#i finished it FINALLY after wifi connection came back to me yesterday

[dramaism]

the day of becoming you....i love you with all my heart and soul: a mini-review

26 episodes, completed. mini-spoilers + my personal opinion.

basically the plot: a calm serious idol with childhood trauma and cheerful entertainment reporter swap bodies then things happen and they fall in love. you'd say well it sounds so simple and that’s exactly the point of it. it’s lightweight, funny and lovely story that will make your heart beat faster. 

the core of the drama is the main couple (i swear i’d move mountains for them). they are amazing. actors have PERFECT chemistry. i just look at them and see a real life married couple that so chill and comfortable with each other. they portray their characters greatly i can see raw emotions on their faces every time, gosh (the confession scene broke me into pieces). also they handle the body swap so naturally that in one episode they acted like they swapped bodies again but actually not and they tricked me i believed them right away. actually them acting as each other is so funny you’ll surely be satisfied with every scene.

the body swap part. if you think that it’s just a some kind of first step for them to date then no, you’re wrong. there’re many body swaps throughout the drama and i enjoyed every single one of them. thanks to the swapping they understand each other better and they solve some of their problems with that. i won’t say that there’s a cringe there but you’ll surely get a second hand embarrassment in some scenes. i think it worked that well because the characters have opposite personalities and it wasn’t boring. (also they touched the theme of hardships of both leads and i love it).

also this part brings comedy and i genuinely laughed throughout the whole show not just the first part of it. that says it all.

(almost) no evil has been detected. this part i love the most. usually when it’s fun light drama there’s always some things or people to make it dramatic towards the end. i don’t think that it was as dramatic as usual. all decisions that have been made by leads were logical for me i understood they struggles and why they did what they did. also all side characters are so good and understanding. fl’s best friend being all supportive and calm, her senior not turning into an evil jealous ex after they broke up, her parents being understanding and always on her side. also are ml’s manager, his female best friend (she’s JUST a friend and only cares about his happiness can you imagine?) and group members. even annoying college from fl’s work came to her senses in the end.

overall a great wholesome drama just sit and enjoy. it will surely go on the list of my favorite cdramas of all time. i’m gonna rewatch it someday for sure.

p.s. there is a little plot twist at the end but it didn't ruin the drama at all for me

[aalissy]

Text Messages

Another day done!! And this chapter got away from me just a lilll bitt hehe. I didn’t intend to include a reveal but there’s one nowww haha. Anywho, I hope you like this chapter. However, please do NOT read it unless you’ve seen Gang of Secrets. It definitely has spoilers for that episode!! Also, if you haven’t seen it please go watch it!! It’s my fave s4 episode rn <3

AO3

Marinette groaned, throwing a hand over her eyes as her phone buzzed repeatedly next to her. She had an extremely long day yesterday. Dealing with her duties as Ladybug and trying to keep her friends happy was absolutely exhausting. Shaking her head furiously, she attempted to wake up. 

Rather groggily, she groped around for the phone next to her. With a breath of relief when she finally grabbed it, Marinette opened up her messaging app. Certain that it was just Alya asking how she was after the bomb she had just dropped on her yesterday, she was mid-way through typing a reply to her best friend when she glanced at the contact name. Squeaking in surprise, Marinette dropped her phone on her bed. 

Hesitantly, she picked it back up, checking to see if it really was the same message as before. Surely she must have just been tired and was imagining everything. When she did double-check, though, Adrien’s name continued to blink up at her. With a quiet gulp, she read his message.

Adrien: Hey Marinette! I just wanted to check up on you after the akuma attack yesterday. It seems like you’ve been going through a lot lately and I just wanted to let you know that I’m always here if you need me 😸.

Choking slightly, Marinette skimmed the message again. Adrien had noticed her! Or, at least he noticed how stressed out she had been lately. Her heart gave a fierce tug as a small smile twitched at her lips for the first time in forever. Quickly, she shook her head at herself. No! There was absolutely no time for love or boys or even friends! Yesterday proved that. 

Sniffling quietly, Marinette’s eyes slid over to her new hiding place for the miracle box. Sucking in a deep breath as she once again felt tears brim in her eyes, she quickly finished typing the message she had been going to send to Alya.

Marinette: yep! totally fine! no worries here 😊

Taking the heel of her palm, she fiercely dragged them over her red-rimmed eyes. She had no time for tears either. Who knew when Hawkmoth would be sending the next akuma?

Assuming that would be the end of the conversation, she dropped her phone back onto her bedsheet, hugging her knees to her chest. Slowly, Marinette’s eyes fluttered closed as she tried to calm down. She felt Tikki and some of the other kwamis come around to hug her cheek. A wide smile stretched across her lips as she cuddled them to her delicately. Opening her eyes, she whispered, “Thank you.”

Her phone buzzed once again and she blinked down in confusion at it. Could this be the message she had expected from Alya? With a small frown creasing her brow, she opened the text.

Adrien: You know, I have a friend who acts the exact same way. I don’t think I believe either of you though.

Adrien: It’s alright not to be okay, Marinette. Especially after a day like yesterday and if you don’t want to talk about it, we can always talk about something else? 

Adrien: You need to know that there are people who care about you 😊

A shaky, happy sob escaped her before she could stop it. Her hand wobbled slightly as Marinette covered her mouth. Rereading his text message, her stomach filled with butterflies. This was exactly why she fell in love with him. His unwavering kindness and support made her feel like she was the greatest person on Earth.

“Thank you, Adrien. I really needed that,” she whispered. With trembling fingers, she typed a reply to him. Biting her lip to contain her smile, Marinette fell back onto her bed. 

Marinette: ty adrien and if its alright with you can we maybe not talk about it? how was your weekend

Adrien: I had a pretty good weekend! I got to see a movie and I went to the pool! 

Trying to brush aside the wave of familiarity that hit her upon reading his text, she shifted slightly on her bed. Nibbling her lip, she debated whether or not she should text him her next question. Waving a hand in the air, she decided that she was just being paranoid. After all, there was no way. 

Marinette: that sounds awesome! what movie did you go see?

Adrien: Oh, I went to go see the new romantic comedy that came out! 

A choked gasp escaped Marinette as she read that text. It had to be a coincidence! Maybe he went with Kagami or by himself. Gnawing on her lip, she hesitated before sending her next text. She needed to know...

Marinette: really? it looked pretty cheesy to me but did you guys like it at least?

She held her breath as she awaited his next message. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears. This could be the start of everything.

Adrien: Well, honestly, I didn’t get to see much of it haha 😅

Adrien: The girl I went with thought it was cheesy too

Immediately, she dropped the phone, scrambling away from it to suck in a deep breath of air. Letting out a startled scream, her eyes darted to Tikki, pleading with kwami. Nervously, she stuttered, “W-what a-am I supposed to do? I-I d-don’t...”

Trailing off, her kwami gave her a soft, sweet smile. “It’s up to you, Marinette. You’re the guardian now. You make the rules. Just like you did with Alya.”

Her head bobbed up and down before a determined glint shined in her eyes. That’s right! She was the guardian now and she had no plans of taking either her or Adrien’s miraculous away. Besides, having two people she could trust her entire life with was worth any potential fear and anxiety. Picking up her phone, Marinette dialed his number, tapping her fingers against her arm impatiently. 

As soon as Adrien picked up, she spoke quickly, rushing through her words, “The girl you were with when you went to go see the movie, did you guys leave to go swimming right afterward?”

“W-what?” Adrien stuttered and she could practically see his green eyes open wide with shock, “Marinette, what are you talking about?”

With a deep, calming breath, she slowed down. “After you guys left the movie theatre, you went swimming didn’t you?” 

“Well, yeah, I guess we did. But, Marinette, how do you know that?” He spoke with confusion clear in his voice.

She giggled lightly, feeling light and safe for the first time in ages. It was him. It’s been him this whole time. Quietly, Marinette murmured, “Because it was me that you went swimming with, silly kitty.”

“No, I didn’t go with you. I went with...” Adrien trailed off. A slow smile twitched at her lips as she imagined him connecting the dots just like she had. Hesitatingly, he asked, “W-what did you just call me?”

Marinette hummed lightly, a small smirk on her lips. “I said silly kitty. Or am I only supposed to call you that when we’re in costume.”

A thud came from the receiver and she frowned in confusion. After sitting for a few more moments in silence, Marinette murmured, “H-hello?”

No response came from her phone and she nibbled on her bottom lip. Did the wifi fail or did he hang up on her? Pulling the phone away from her ear, she saw that they were still connected. With a quiet sigh, she hung up the call. Just as she was about to call back, a loud, insistent knocking came from the trapdoor above her bed. 

Screaming in shock, Marinette stared up at the hatch in concern. Slowly, she opened it, squeaking once again when Chat Noir fell rather ungracefully onto her bed. Frowning, she muttered, “Chat Noir?”

In a second, she was wrapped up in a tight embrace. Her eyes widened before she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. A bright grin bloomed across her face as she giggled. If she had any doubts before that he wasn’t Adrien, they were absolutely gone now. Suddenly, so much made sense now.

Pulling back slowly, Marinette stared up into his shimmering, green eyes. With a light chuckle, she asked, “Did you really just drop everything to come over?”

“What did you expect me to do?” Chat’s arms waved exasperatedly in the air. “You can’t just drop a bombshell on me like that and then not expect me to want to see you. Did you really have to do it over the phone?”

Marinette threw her head back as she laughed loudly. “Well, you revealed yourself over text! I didn’t want to just drop everything and slam into your bedroom window as Ladybug.”

A bright blush lit up his face before he ducked his head down shyly. Almost silent, he muttered, “You could have done that, you know. I wouldn’t have minded.”

Now it was her turn to flush deeply. A few scattered daydreams of doing just that with a few kisses intermixed filled her thoughts. Shaking her head, she cast those dreams aside and focused on the superhero that was still in her bedroom. Giving him an adoring smile, she playfully pushed his nose back. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have.”

He looked at her so softly and it was so reminiscent of Adrien that Marinette had no idea how she hadn’t figured it out sooner. Carefully, he reached out to take her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “How are you doing with being the Guardian, then? I know how hard your day was yesterday.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes again before she threw herself back into his arms. “Better now that you’re here. It’s been so hard!” she murmured.

He hugged her back tightly, whispering, “I’ll always be here, Marinette.”

“I know, Adrien. I know,” she squeezed him back with a quiet whisper, “Thank you.”

“Always, Marinette. Always.”

She sunk into his embrace, letting her worries melt away for a few minutes. There’d be plenty of time to talk, freak out, and strategize later. Right now, she just needed this.

[padawan-jiejie]

My Choice [3 / 3]

Summary: You are Anakin’s twin sister and Mace Windu’s apprentice with forbidden kind of interest in Master Kenobi. You’re there to witness your brother’s turn to the Dark side and have trouble dealing with the consequences. Five years later, you visit Obi-Wan on Tatooine…

PART 1   |   PART 2

Word Count: 5.8k

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x reader

Warnings: !MyEnglish!, ptsd talk, talk about regrets, angsty!reader, but also comforting!Obi and fluffy!Obi and baby!Luke + one more character has a cameo and overly fluffy ending  the reader is a bit of a crybaby in this one, sorry

A/N: THIS TOOK ME SO LONG - I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE!!! Also I haven’t read the comic about Obi-Wan and his time on Tatooine so… I just hope all of you are doing the best you can and enjoy 💖💖💖

Tagged:  @retrobhaddie​ @multi-madison​ @treestarrrrrrrr  @fandoms-pizza-wifi-ym13​ @lysawayne

Five long years since the tragedy of the Jedi. Since their failure and the purge. After all those years, here you were. Flying in your stolen ship, fleeing away from your inevitable destiny. You ran out of supplies and had to take a break, stop somewhere safe. You had a planet in mind, it was close and you were certain no one from the Empire would be looking for you there if you don’t stay for long. It was the hole of the universe after all. But somethin- no, someone was calling for you to land there. So you set the coordinations to Tatooine. You used your connection to the Force to find the perfect place to hide your ship nearest the pull you sensed. You shut down all systems and took a deep breath. For the first time in years, you would step into the harsh, dry and sandy grounds of the planet you were born on. It wasn’t your home for a long time and you felt bitter and nostalgic looking outside. Yet as you were sitting there in the cockpit, you saw a familiar cloak walking towards your position from behind a mountain. At that moment, all your worries and doubts faded like a mist.

You ran out as fast as you could and stayed staring at the figure few feet away from you. Your heart was beating quickly from the excitement and when he pulled his hood off and looked directly into your eyes, it definitely felt like coming back home.

“Y/N?”

“Obi-Wan…”

Your voices were nothing but a whisper. A whisper that told a million words and more. Obi-Wan Kenobi was standing there in front of you and it was like yesterday when you said your last goodbyes. And he was stunned. He came to the conclusion that it was very likely he would never see you again in his lifetime after Order 66. He never quite made his peace with that and couldn’t believe in what was happening. He thought he was hallucinating. There you were, in all your beauty and grace. Your y/h/c hair was messy, y/e/c eyes red from fatigue and your brown robes dusty. Even like that you still managed to look as elegant as always.

Kenobi took a hesitant step towards you, fearing that you might disappear any second. You didn’t. He took another step closer and you jumped into his arms.

“I’ve missed so much, Obi-Wan!” You blurted out as tears of joy started streaming down your face. You held onto him tightly and sobbed and cried your heart out. As he came to reality, he too embraced you and buried his face in your neck. It wasn’t just a dream. You were indeed here. In his arms. Right where you belong.

“Y/N… I am so happy you’re actually here. You can’t imagine how bad it was being alone like this!” He lifted you up and spun around before putting you back on your feet.

You dried your tears, while he was holding you close to him by your waist. “Master Jedi, I… You… Just… Me…” You spent hours thinking about all the things you wanted to talk about with him but now as you finally had the chance to express yourself, your own mouth was failing you. You could not even make up one proper sentence.

“I-I’m… Umm… It’s been so long.”

“I know, I was afraid I would never see you again. I’m so glad that will not be the case.” He said with a blissful expression. You smiled at him and he kissed your forehead, sending a warm feeling to rush through your body.

“Obi… I could sense you. With the Force, I sensed you. I think.”

“I sensed you too. That’s why I came. I thought I was losing my mind. What would you be doing here, right? But now I see that my senses have not abandoned me yet.”

“No, they are still pretty decent.”

“Oh, decent you say? Well, what are you doing here anyway? I guess you’re not just stopping by to say hello to an old friend.”

“Actually, I ran out of supplies so I need to get some food and stuff. And I think I need to check this beauty for any damage.”

Obi-Wan frowned and touched his beard. “That is not the ship Bail Organa had given you. What happened to it and how did you get this one? It looks ancient.”

“Yeah, you really don’t wanna know how I got that. Maybe I’ll tell you later but it’s a long story that I don’t wanna get into right now.”

“If you think that would be for the best, I’ll leave it be. But come on. We’ll go to my little house and I’ll get you something to eat.”

“That would be so nice! I am starving! Um, but I shouldn’t leave her here unguarded.”

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing will happen to it. Trust me. And if anything does happen, I have my methods of getting it back.”

“Alright then. But um, I actually call her Soka. Because of the blue and white stripe there on the side.” Obi-Wan paused for a second, then smiled. With one of his arms around your shoulders, you two walked over to the house that he was apparently now living in. The place looked poor and you couldn’t help but think about the Jedi quarters you spent half your life in.

“That’s a whole another level, Kenobi. Even for you.”

“There wasn’t really much to be picking from.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s okay. I’ll get you some soup.”

You sat down near a tiny window and pulled your legs to your chest. The heat reminded you of your childhood. How you used to help your mom with cleaning, cooking and then would go to play with Anakin and the other local children. Looking back at it now, you could tell that as much as it sucked, those were good times. Just you, your mamma and your big brother Ani. You signed at the thought, pictures from the past running through your head. Padmé, the handmaidens, Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan with his cute padawan braid. He certainly did not enjoy it when you hopped next to him and started playing with it, asking him questions why is he letting grow only so small piece of his hair. A sad smiled appeared on your lips as you remembered the moment you met. He didn’t really believe in neither you or Ani and none of you could see how important you would become for each other. What a wonderful team you would make in the future. It wasn’t fair that it all fell apart out of nowhere.

“Here you go,” Obi-Wan said, holding out a bowl of soup, waking you up from your trance.

“Thank you.”

After you finished your meal and your stomach felt better and you and Obi-Wan were sitting next to each other, both trying to get a grasp of this situation. You haven’t seen each other in 5 years and it didn’t look like you accomplished much. Quite the opposite. Former Jedi Master looked dragged from his current life, you could see the wrinkles forming on his face. He looked a lot older now. For you, it was your eyes. Obi-Wan remembered how they would always light up whenever you had some crazy idea or simply when you were happy and oh, how he loved your smile! Your eyes had a sparkle in them whenever you smiled or laughed. Now? Your eyes felt cold, tired and filled with sorrow. As if you’ve grown tougher during the time of your separation. He pointed that out.

“That’s because I had to grow up. Suddenly I had no one to look after me and as you know my entire life I had someone by my side. Whether that be my mom, my brother or my master or… Padmé or you. Life had been hard on me, Obi. That’s just how it is. In my core, I feel the same but on the outside, I lost a lot of my faith. But don’t play it on me. You’re damaged too.”

“I am not denying that.”

“Speaking of which, how do you like living on Tatooine?”

He laughed. “Like isn’t the word I would use. More like tolerate. But as you can see, I manage. Nobody’s visiting but sometimes I go to check up on Luke - much to your step-brother’s distaste when he notices me.”

Obi-Wan would swear on the Force that as he mentions Luke’s name, for a split second your eyes filled with that spark he thought you lost. Maybe you weren’t that doomed after all.

“Luke? My nephew? How is he? Is he tall already? I mean, I know, he’s 5 but is he okay? Are they taking good care of him?”

“Not to worry, milady. They are maybe too protective of him but he’s not actually lacking anything. He’s in good hands.”

“What does he look like? Does he have brown hair like Padmé or is he blonde?”

Obi-Wan was amused by your interest in your nephew. He knew you would ask him about Luke but he didn’t realise how eager you would be to find out more about him. “As far as I am concerned, he is blonde. He’s just like his father with blue eyes and I am sure he’s going to be an excellent pilot. Not like someone.” He gave you a side-glace and you looked at him in disbelieve. Is he really challenging me like this?

“Of course! Make fun of my flying skills! You know, I got better since the Clone Wars and I no longer crash-land as you could see back there.”

“I am never going to forget the moment when you almost killed us while landing and Anakin turned at me and said: ‘See, master? And you complain about my flying!’ I will always remember the face you made! And you didn’t want to talk to us the entire day.”

“You two totally deserved it! Don’t try to sugar-code it!”

“Silent treatment never resolved anything, Y/N. Besides, you could have us all killed.”

“No, we are not going down that road. I did save you so shut it, Jedi! I too have some tricks up my sleeve - you are not as perfect as you think you are.”

“Oh is that so? I thought I was being completely irresistible!”

Your body unintentionally reacted with a flush on your cheeks to his statement. Mostly because it was absolutely true and thanks to the fact that you ran out of ideas of how to out-sass him, you just proclaimed: “Okay, I give up.”

“And what were you doing this whole time? I suppose, you still don’t want to tell me the story behind the ship.”

“Well, no. But I was mostly just moving around the Outer Rim. Nothing too special. I wanted to stay off the radar for as long as possible and I think I was quite good at it. You know, putting my stealth-mastery into practice once again. You wouldn’t be proud of me though. I tried to be true to what I was taught since I was nine. To be a good person and to protect peace in the places I went to and I tried to suppress my emotions about all this but… I couldn’t do that. I thought that the Republic were the good guys and I thought that the Jedi, although not exactly always right, were too the good guys. We had each other’s back and now all of that is gone and call me stupid or naive for having hart time adjusting to that. Sometimes it just gets too rough and too much to take, knowing that all of what I was fighting for tumbled down… I’m sorry, it’s just been getting to me lately.”

Obi-Wan put a hand on your shoulder. “I understand. It wasn’t easy for neither of us but it was worse for you. I know how miserable you were when Yoda told you that you should stay out of Luke and Leia’s lives.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s bothering me.”

“What is it then? I am here, you can talk to me about anything. I might not have the solution but I am listening. If that’s enough?”

You were tense. How would you tell him this? How were you supposed to say it out loud? You could still see it in front of your eyes and it was haunting you in your dreams. Never in a million years would you thought that this would happen. After all that you’ve been through you thought he knew better and a part of you still felt like he didn’t deserve it. You closed your eyes to calm yourself down.

You swallowed. “Have you felt… something? Even if it was just in the back of your head…Do you know anything about Anakin?”

Now Obi-Wan knew what you meant. His hand rubbed your back as he sighed. He heard about him a couple of weeks ago. Anger, sadness and helplessness were boiling inside him. He thought Anakin died on Mustafar and when he overheard that Darth Vader was actually causing some problems out there in the Galaxy, he was horrified.

“I found out some time ago. I couldn’t believe it.”

You bit on your lip to stop the sobs coming out from your throat. Salty water blurred your vision. Your heart was aching. You somehow always felt that he wasn’t killed, the feeling of your brother was still present but to learn that he is now a huge threat in the galaxy was not only shocking but also tragic and traumatizing. You blinked and teardrops fell down. You quickly brushed them away and took three deeps breaths.

“Forgive me my sentiment but… It’s hard to deal with that because I remember all those times during the Clone Wars and despite the fact that it was a war, it was actually… Some of the best time of my life. We lost our friends, we were shaken and not once and we risked our lives for a better cause and we were heroes thanks to that but we… We had each other. Me, Anakin, Padmé and you. Even Ahsoka and Rex and Cody! It felt like a family. Yeah, a very dysfunctional family but… It was something to let you know where you belong… Where home is. If I wasn’t on a mission with Ani and Snips, I’d be with Padmé or you, just having the time of my life. It wasn’t perfect but if I knew what was to come, I would certainly more appreciate it then! Now I just…” You covered your face in your palms, crying. “I wish I could just forget that this is happening.” Echoed your voice from behind your hands.

Kenobi felt your despair and pulled you into him, letting you cry your feelings out while holding you in his arms. He himself didn’t exactly process the events yet, but he knew that you needed his support right now much more than he needed yours. He waited for you for five long years and he was ready to wait for next 50 if it meant he could see you one more time. Now he didn’t want to make your issues seem smaller because he felt betrayed too. He wanted to help you get through this so he kept on rocking you back and forward until you looked up. He caressed your cheek and lightly kissed your forehead. He was well aware of what your supposed family meant for you so he decided to let you feel like you still have at least a part of it. Because you do. Dispite his Jedi teaching, he would never let you go.

“Tomorrow I’m going to take you to see Luke. Owen will probably throw us out but if it is going to help you, I’ll take you there.”

“Thank you, Obi-Wan. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it, Y/N.”

You melted into his embrace and listened to his heartbeat. He was a soothing presence to you. He’s always been. After getting over your depressive emotions, you found a warm feeling creeping up from inside you. You buried it deep down so it wouldn’t bring you pain while you and Obi were apart. As you were so close there, it was coming back up to the surface. This time, though, there was no Code, no Jedi Council, no forbidden attachments to make you feel wrong about what you felt. Obi-Wan sensed this change in mood and smiled to himself. He felt it coming back too.

After you both showered - separately, may I add, we’re not there yet - and changed into more comfortable clothes, you decided to go to sleep. He insisted you keep the bed to which you replied: “Obi-Wan, there’s no way you’re sleeping on the floor and I want to feel like I am not alone in here so just… Are you up for cuddles? Please? I need my cuddling buddy back.”

He just shook his head in amusement and didn’t say anything. He couldn’t reject you at this point. Not to mention that when you were together on missions to deal with some Jedi business with no one around, snuggles were on a daily basis. Although I must say, there was one time when Anakin appeared out of the blue, saw you two getting way too close for friends and wouldn’t shut up about it for a week. It was kind of cue though.

Obi-Wan tugged himself under the sheets next to you on his not-so-comfortable bed and lay on his back. You put your arm around him and placed your head on his chest. His heartbeat was steady and calming. Even though you were tired, you couldn’t close your eyes to fall asleep. You had to wonder what is Luke like and what will you feel when you see him. You held him once when he was born and couldn’t help but wonder if he is Force-sensitive too. It would be only logical.

“Obi-Wan?”

“Umhm…”

“Do you think that Luke and Leia should be raised to be Jedi?”

“Well, I hope so. I don’t know about Leia but Luke is so much like Anakin when he was a child, it would surprise me if he wouldn’t grow up to be one.”

“Who’s going to show him?”

“I am. If you’ll stay, you can help.”

You tighten your grip around him. “I don’t know. The problem is that I and Ani had such a bond through the Force and I still feel him and I fear that if I stay here, he may be able to find me.”

“Why would he come back to the planet that represents everything he despises? Slavery, his mother’s death, sand.”

“I know but he had the chance to kill me before as a Vader and he didn’t. What if the Sith have some plans with me? What if they want me to turn to the Dark side?”

“I highly doubt that would happen.” He protectively put his arms around you. “Mace Windu taught you about the Dark side and when they could turn you to it completely, they had no interest in doing that. Why would they suddenly change their minds?”

“I don’t know. I guess you’re right but the possibility of hurting you or Luke is making me go nuts.”

“I understand that but again, Anakin knew that even with your knowledge of the Force and with our feelings for each other being strictly against the Code, you stayed loyal to the Order. Even now when things are so uncivilized, you still decided not to turn, that shows your strength and even if Vader senses you, he will see that.”

“You mean he would rather kill me than try to turn me? Yeah, cool, can’t wait.”

“You know what I meant. You don’t need to worry about him. If he comes, which he won’t, he’ll have to get over me first, anyway.” He kissed your hair and whispered: “Good night, my love.”

You spent so much time in space and on cold planets that now walking around the sands of Tatooine was an absolute horror. You were sweating and thirsty and the two suns high on the sky were blinding your vision. You and Obi were on your way to Owen and Beru’s moisture farm. You never saw or met them but Ani told you about them. He blamed them a little bit for not searching for Shmi and you couldn’t help but feel the same. You were sure they were good people but at the same time maybe if they did something more, your mom would be still alive. You knew these thoughts were not the Jedi way but let’s face it, you and your brother were never the perfect examples of the Jedi.

Obi-Wan stopped and pointed into the distance where you could see a small dot on the horizon.

“That is where they live but maybe you should go on your own. Owen isn’t really fond of me and if you arrive alone and say that you are his step-sister, he’s probably gonna let you in. I’ll wait for you somewhere here.”

“Okay. Thank you, Obi-Wan. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome but umm, I changed my name.”

“You changed your name? To what?”

“I call myself Ben Kenobi now.”

You sighed. “Satine used to call you that.”

He just nodded and you smiled at him. She meant so much for him when they were young that you understood why he did that. He wanted to pay her some tribute. Besides, you would have done the same if you were at his place.

“Well, Ben, wish me luck.”

He squizzed your hand and started to walk away. You swallowed and walked the other way, towards your distant family house. You were nervous and excited at the same time. You desperately wanted to meet Luke but you didn’t know what would Owen and Beru think about you being there. As you almost reached your destination, a sight in front of you made you stop in your tracks. There was a little blonde boy sitting in sand playing with some droid parts. He didn’t seem to notice you so you stood there amazed. He looked exactly like his father. You felt tears of happiness mixed with nostalgia burn in your eyes. You covered your mouth as Luke’s toy fell apart and he mumbled under his breath. You sniffed and made your way to where he was sat.

Luke turned around startled. “Hello. Who are you?”

“Hi…” you whispered, gaining strength to speak more. “Umm, you’re Luke Skywalker, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. But I asked you first.” He made a grimace of childish anger and you had to smile. You dropped to his level and held out your hand. “My name is Y/N Skywalker.”

His expression changed. Obviously he knew that name and kept on wandering his eyes between your hand and your face. 

“You are my dad’s sister?”

You nodded.

“Uncle and aunt told me about you. They said you would never come.” He took your hand and held onto it.

“I am sorry. For everything. I am so sorry, Luke. You were supposed to live with your parents somewhere else and enjoying your life very differently.”

“I like it here.” He was genuine but you knew that one day this place would be too tiny for him.

“Okay.” You stroke his cheek and you sensed the Force in him but he pulled away.

“I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

That hurt. You were a stranger. He didn’t know you and even if you loved your nephew so much, this was the first time he saw you.

“That’s right, you shouldn’t. I hope that one day I won’t be a stranger to you anymore but for now… It was lovely to meet you, Luke.”

“Sure. It was lovely to meet you too, umm…Should I call aunt Y/N?”

“That’d be great.”

“What would be great?” 

Both your heads shot up as you heard a voice. There was a man with scruffy in grey robes and he looked mad.

“Luke, come here.”

“It’s okay, uncle. This is Y/N. She’s my dad’s sister. You told me about her.”

You stood up and Owen frowned at you. He shook your hand, though he was suspicious.

“Luke is telling the truth. I am Anakin Skywalker’s sister and just came to say hello. I never had a chance to properly meet him and I stopped by and I couldn’t go without meeting my nephew. You too. From what I understand, you are my step-brother. Thank you for taking care of the boy.”

Owen crossed his arms over his chest. “Kenobi told you where to find us?”

“Is that a problem?”

“No. I’m glad that we finally met but I don’t want your Jedi stuff anywhere near Luke. His parents had life bad enough and I don’t want him to get hurt like they and you did.”

You blinked confused. You sensed Luke’s connection to the Force and you knew he would become aware of it sooner or later. “We got burned. Many times, I admit but neither Ben Kenobi nor I mean any harm to him or to you.”

“I believe you. On the other hand, why add insult to injury?”

A sandstorm was raging outside. You were supposed to be on your way by now but something always came into it, making it impossible for you to leave the planet. You’ve been living with Obi-Wan for 9 days now and as much as you were scared something unfortunate was going to happen because of your sibling bond, you couldn’t deny how your mood improved over time. You finally had a moment to breathe, to live, to drop the worries because when he was around simply being himself, it was so easy to forget the reality. It would come back to hit you later but when he was telling you stories, he heard in the Mos Eisley Cantina and you two would laugh, it didn’t matter. When you two cooked and tried to combine both of your (anti)talents, sometimes it resulted in friendly arguments and spilt tea. At night, you would fall asleep in each other’s arms only to wake up to the warmth of the body next to you and the calming feeling of safety. If there would be anyone to witness it, they’d say they’re watching a married couple doing normal things. It felt right being there, being like that, although it was a bit strange at first. It made you feel wanted, welcomed and loved. It gave you a sense of much-needed belonging. Little did you know that Obi-Wan felt the same.

It was already late at night but you couldn’t sleep and the sandstrom made you feel uncomfortable. It had been 15 years since the last time you experienced one and you didn’t like remembering it. It brought up old fears to the surface. Lucky for you, though, former Jedi Master managed to stay up as well to keep you company.

“Will you finally tell me where did you get the ship?”

You smirked. “From a friend.”

“A friend? What friend?”

“Don’t be jealous.”

“I am not! I am just… curious.”

You turned to sit on the bed face to face with him. “We’re not the only survivors of the Purge. There are more Jedi in the galaxy.”

“I knew we couldn’t be the only ones!” His eyes filled with hope.

“I met a guy called Kal Cestis. He was a padawan when it happened. He helped me to get my new ship. Not exactly new but better than nothing since my original one broke down.”

“Hmm… Interesting. Do you know anything about Ahsoka?”

“Unfortunately no. I haven’t seen her anywhere. Not that I’ve been to many places but if she’s alive, she’s hidden well.”

“I don’t think she gave up like that. She must be somewhere out there.”

“I really hope that she is. I miss her.”

“We both do,” Obi replied and caressed your cheek. You leaned into his touch and closed your eyes. It was an intimate moment that you decided to delve into.

Obi-Wan was watching you, trying to print this image in his memory. He never wanted to forget you and the way you made him feel. It was precious and sacred to him. You were captivating, graceful and he was thanking the Force every day for bringing you back into his miserable life. He didn’t deserve you and yet he never wanted to let go off you. He couldn’t. He knew it was selfish of him to want you all for himself but he was too attached.

“Y/N?”

“Um?” You opened your eyes to look into his. You were cantured by his intense gaze and your lips parted. You weren’t used to him staring at you like that as if you were the most devine creature in the galaxy and your cheeks turned the deepest shade of pink.

“Can I kiss you?”

Your stomach flipped and your held your breath for a second. You blinked several times before placing your hand over his, still resting on your cheek. “Yes.” was a simple word but there was so much more behind it.

Obi-Wan lowered his head to your level and cupped your face to pull you to him. You couldn’t believe it. After so many years of loving this man and having to hide it, you were able to finally express it. You waited for him to softly press his lips to yours. It was sweet, slow and filled with so much emotion. All of the unsaid ‘I love you’s, all of the suppressed feelings, all of it finally blossemed into this special moment. Electricity ran through both of you at the slight touch. It was new and you couldn’t quite put a finger on this feeling inside you. It was your first kiss after all! Obi-Wan was your first crush, first love, now first kiss and most definitelly he was going to be your first also in another way.

He pulled away to see your reactions but you didn’t let him. Your hands shifted to his neck and brought him back to you. He started kissing you properly this time and let himself loose. Deepening the kiss, he found himself hovering over you and soon you were lying under him. You both laughed as your back hit the bed. He kissed you one more time and lay down onto his side next to you. You stared in his eyes that reflected all the kindness in the world.

“Y/N, I know where you stand, I know Master Yoda told you to stay away from Luke and Leia and I know that you’re afraid what would happen if you stay here longer but please. We’ll figure it out somehow… I love you, Y/N. I have for years now.” He brushed your hair out of your forehead and played with it for a while. “I can’t let you go after this. I won’t. I wanted to be with you for so long and now that we are finally allowed to be ourselves freely, I am begging not to go. Please.” 

“I have already made up my mind and I am not backing up.”

He kissed the tip of your nose to shut you and took your hand in his. “Yes. It is up to you in the end. I can’t make decisions for you, I know. I don’t want you to go but the last thing that I do want is to be forcing you into something. Even if you'll leave… I promise that I will wait for you. I have waited ages, I can wait a little longer. I’d really rather not but you are worth it, stars.”

“Obi-Wan…”

He smiled sadly and it broke your heart. He was giving you freedom even when he was lonely. He was fully aware of your stubborness but this time you gave in.

“You are the love of my life. You’ve always been. I have loved you so much all this time and I always will. I want to stay but I am too scared that something’s gonna happen to you or to Luke so I… I thought about it and…” You squeezed his hand. “I decided to cut myself of from the Force so that I could have a life with you.”

“What?!”

“I have made my peace with it. I am like a beacon to Vader if he decides to search for me, this is the only way I can have what I want. You.”

Obi was staring in disbelief. You just decided what your faith was going to be and Obi-Wan was the happiest man alive. He was shooked at first but soon happiness and pure joy took over him and he hugged you, nuzzling his face in the crook of your neck. You pulled him even closer to you as you let the sandstorm outside be completelly forgotten. 

It’s been about a week since you and Obi were living officially together in your new home. It wasn’t ideal nor perfect but hey! What is in this galaxy, right?

You were walking hand-in-hand from a town where you successfully sold your ship, Soka. It was a little sad since she reminded you of your adveture with Kal and of your friend Snips but at the same time, you were most likely never going to need her again. Hopefully.

The two suns were shinning bright, tanning your skin. The course and rough sand was cracking underneath your weight as you walked. The dry air made you thirsty and at some point you couldn’t help but cough. You two were wandering around the place without putting much thought into it and before you knew it, you pauzed.

“Won’t we reach the spot were you first landed on Tatooine if you continue walking that way?”

“I think we will.”

“So this is where it all started. The Skywalker’s journey straight to the botom!”

“Not straight.”

You gave him a you-know-what-I-mean look.

“I’m just teasing. Sorry, Y/N.”

“You always are, I don’t mind but... Actually, you know what? I think I want to change my name too.”

“What? Why? Your name is so lovely!”

“Because it is my choice, not yours, mine. I guess I want to asociate myself with something different. I want to disconnect from my past and focus on the future. Luke’s gonna carry on the Skywalker legacy. It wouldn’t fair if no one carried on yours. Besides, Y/N Kenobi sounds pretty great, doesn’t it?”

Obi-Wan was staring at you with open mouth. “You want to take my last name?”

You put your arms around his shoulders. “I do. I mean, you’re not getting married but still you can take this as a sign of my devotion. I truly, deeply love you and I want to be all yours - body, soul, even the surname.”

He didn’t know exactly how to react to that, so he just crashed his lips onto yours. He was astonished. “I love you so much, my sweet Y/N. You are the greatest thing that happened to me. Although not the name, I am yours too. Body and soul.”

You pulled him into a tight embrace. People passing you by were giving you strange looks but it’s not like any of you cared. You simply stayed in the moment, forgetting all your worries. It was a promising day for you two, after all. Promising for your relationship but most importantly it meant a new start. It was an enterance to a brighter state of existance and a new stage in life. A stage where you could finally be a little selfish and build a life for yourselves. A life where your and Obi’s love, was the only thing that mattered.

[whiskynottea]

An Interruption in the 1st Law of Thermodynamics.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, Chapter 27,  Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Chapter 33, Chapter 34, Chapter 35,  Chapter 36, Chapter 37, Chapter 38, Chapter 39, Chapter 40, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, Chapter 44,  Chapter 45, Chapter 46, Chapter 47, Chapter 48, Chapter 49, Chapter 50

AO3

A huge thank you to @theministerskat who puts up with me, and keeps betaing this story, 51 chapters in!

Chapter 51. Zambia 

Jamie had been right about one thing. It wasn’t the same.

Everything had changed. My timezone had changed, and two more hours crept in between us. Jamie’s obligations had doubled as he got further into the semester, and his free time became limited. My schedule in the medical program kept me occupied from eight to four-thirty, and then with afternoon clubs, I missed Jamie when he was waking up, and I couldn’t stay awake long enough at night when he’d get back to his dorm.

But the biggest change was the unmitigated disaster our communication had become. Or lack thereof.

The volunteer house had no wifi connection, and I had to walk to a nearby cafe to talk to Jamie, something that was impossible to do during the week since the only time he was able to call me at was midnight.

So I bought a Zambian SIM card and texted him. A lot. It still wasn’t enough, but it was the best I could do. I missed his voice. I missed seeing his face. The few times we attempted a video call all I had managed to see of him was a frozen image. Sometimes clear, sometimes blurred, because he had moved before the connection lagged. I had laughed the first time at the image of Jamie with his mouth open, his eyes turned skywards, as his voice came through the speaker with a relieved ‘finally’. I had thought the problem with the internet connection was random, and it would be better the next time we’d call. It didn’t.

We continued texting, trying to keep our lives intertwined. We sent pictures -- pictures that were pushing the limits of my patience because most of the time it took more than one failed attempt to get them through. Our messages often turned into long monologues, as the other was busy or sleeping. And then, when we had time to check our phones, we found long monologues in return.

That was how I found myself staring at a white piece of paper, brow furrowed, determined to write something that would be more intimate than a text on his phone.

My dear Jamie,

No.

My love,

No. Damn it! How was I supposed to write a whole letter when I couldn’t even write a greeting?

My sweet Scot,

Yes, that’s better.

My sweet Scot,

It’s me, your Sassenach, writing a letter to you, as if we live in the 18th century. I miss our century, to be honest. I miss proper internet connection. This 2G thing sucks.

I paused in my writing, sure that I wouldn’t give a damn about the internet connection if Jamie were with me. With a sigh, I shook my head to scatter those thoughts away. He wasn’t here, and he wasn’t supposed to be. Biting my lip, I continued, trying to focus on the positive things that had happened during the two weeks I had been in Zambia.

Being here is like moving into another dimension. I knew it would be different, but I never would have imagined people living on the same planet as us having such different everyday lives. I thought I was prepared when I landed in Africa, having finished the online training at home, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I omitted telling you last week, but I panicked so much the second day I was here, that I started crying that night in my bed. It’s silly, ridiculous, and it makes no sense, but I felt lost. Alone. It was the first time that I could become lost and Lamb wouldn’t be there to search for me. I had to make it on my own. We had no guidance on how to live here and it seemed so hard to build a life from scratch in a country where I couldn’t even communicate well enough to buy something to eat. I was terrified, Jamie. And I didn’t tell you, because I knew you didn’t want me to come here, and I felt guilty and ungrateful for the chance given to me. Anyway. I’m much better now. I met Louise and she has pretty much made everything easier. She arrived two weeks before I did, and helped me a lot during my acclimation here.

Livingstone is beautiful. It’s rural and wild. Louise said we might visit the Victoria Falls next week, so get ready for pictures! It will be awesome to explore a bit, there are so many things to do!

I know I haven’t said much about the people I’ve met here, but they are usually around and it’s weird for me to be writing about them while they are looking at me. Louise is from France, that much I have told you. She’s a free spirit, straightforward, unabashed for what she says or does, but she’s also sweet and funny. She’s always smiling -- I don’t know how she does it. Sometimes I just want to start crying when I see the scarce medical resources available here. The equipment is limited, the clinics are under-staffed, and the patients too many. But then, that’s the reason I’ve come, right? To help. I decided to help in the children’s department, although I was really tempted to volunteer for the maternity one. Louise opted for the HIV treatment.

For the home-visits, I am usually paired with Margaret. She’s from Virginia and she’s really shy. She often gets lost in daydreams, but she is also so very patient and calm. During these visits we are supervised by Chikondi, which means ‘love’ in Chewa. Isn’t that great? Chikondi is a local caregiver and he’s amazing. His English is very good and he explains every little detail for us to understand what he’s doing and why. We mostly observe and assist him with small things now, but we’ll be able to do more once we get more experience. Yesterday we sat for almost an hour after an examination, listening to the stories of an old man who has been living alone since his wife passed away last year. They had five children, but they have all moved away. We were almost ready to leave, when he looked at me for a long moment and then just started talking. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but Chikondi started translating immediately. The man’s words rolled out in his deep voice, taking their time, but his eyes danced as shared his memories with us. And when he finished telling the last story -- how he made fun of his wife for her cooking, but they both knew she was the best cook in the village --  we gathered our equipment to leave and he rose too, saying that it was time to go to see his girl, because she was waiting for him.

It was impossible not to cry as I watched his dragging steps towards the cemetery. Chikondi said that listening to our patients and giving them comfort is just as important as the medical care and health education that we provide. In that moment, I felt as though I’m here not only to help heal their bodies, but their souls too. And it struck me that we’re not so different after all. It’s magical to be human and live, and feel and remember. And to be a human who has love and time to share with others creates a beautiful, inexplicable feeling. Like you suddenly realize you’ve been breathing your whole life, but you now relish in the action, something so simple, and yet so important.

We have been seeing the same giraffe I told you about every time we go for home-based care to the village nearby. We decided to name it Mani. I’ll take a picture tomorrow, so you’ll get to know him too -- I hope he’s a he.

The volunteer house is nice. We have a pool outside the house, and a BBQ, and we’ll probably organize a get-together tomorrow. Week days are way too busy, so it’s only Saturdays and Sundays that we have time for ourselves. Jeremy and I started a Reading Club and we spend almost all of our afternoons there, reading to the children. No matter their level of poverty or their illnesses, children smile a lot. I’m starting to believe that’s the common denominator that keeps us human. It’s strange, how the laughter of children brings adults together. It feels like they are the reason we can all function in the same equation. And most times I think that looking at tiny humans running around, playing, yelling, singing, is what keeps me sane and gives me purpose.

We’ll start health talks at the local schools next week. It’s mind blowing how important health education is. Even the simplest issues, like hydration, hygiene, and nutrition, have to be discussed. I’m excited to get into these classrooms, even more so because that’s where my mom volunteered.

I’m happy to be here, but I miss you, Jamie. I miss you so much. And I’m thinking of you all the time, I hope you know that. There are so many things I would like to share with you. Even the simplest things, like a flower or a sunset. Even though you wouldn’t care about them at all. At least the flower. You might have liked the sunset. We’re talking about going bungee jumping. I wish you were here so we could jump together.

Sometimes at night I dream that you hold me in your arms and I sleep better for it.

I’m now thinking that sending letters might seem really stupid to you, so don’t feel obliged to reply. We will text anyway.

I love you.

Claire

I finished the letter with a wistful smile, folded it, and wrote Jamie’s address on the envelope.

“Claire!” Louise waved from the door. “Are you coming?”

I secured the envelope between the pages of a book in my luggage, and headed outside. I would stop by the post office first thing tomorrow.

“What were you doing, Miss Bennet?” Robert raised an eyebrow, but his gaze didn’t leave the book he was reading.

“Ha, bloody, ha.” I replied, refraining from replying to his question.

At that moment, I realised that I had forgotten to mention Robert in my letter, but I didn’t know how to describe him to Jamie either. He was the oldest one here, but he didn’t talk a lot and his cocky behavior always made me wonder why he had volunteered in the first place. He was working in the adult department and organized the Math Club in the afternoon, so we didn’t really interact during the week. He was the actual reason, however, I didn’t participate in the Math Club. I didn’t want to be stressed during the afternoon activities, dealing with his sour behavior. Jeremy was much closer to the type of people I would usually be friends with.

“So, are we doing the BBQ tomorrow?” Louise asked, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

I shrugged and saw Margaret’s anxious gaze passing across all our faces, waiting for anyone else to speak first.

“I think it’ll be cool. We haven’t really spent much time together.” Jeremy was lying in a deckchair, and he rose on his elbows to look at us. “What do you think, St. Germain?”

“Why do you keep calling him by his last name?” I inquired, narrowing my eyes at Robert as I took the seat next to Louise.

“I don’t know.” Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows, as if he had just realized he had been doing that.

“I don’t mind,” Robert said. “All my friends call me St. Germain. Not that any of you would ever be anything close to my friends,” he added, and I grimaced.

“Of course your Highness,” Louise mocked him in return. “So, it’s decided. We’re doing the BBQ tomorrow.” She bit her lip, then, and looked around. “Where is Helga?”

“She had an additional first aid training session.” Margaret fidgeted with her skirt, then fixed her gaze on the swimming pool tiles.

Louise saw me observing Margaret, and she leaned closer to me. “She’s getting better. When I first came she hardly talked to any of us.” Seeing my questioning glance, she continued. “She’s not well. Her boyfriend died last year. Cancer.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, trying not to seem upset in case Margaret chanced a look at us. She didn’t, but Robert did, and when his eyes found mine there was an expression on his face I couldn’t quite decipher. Something between loss and understanding.

Well, that was new.  

I had no idea Margaret’s time here was part of a healing process for her, and that made me realize I hardly knew anything about my roommates’ lives outside of Zambia, and certainly not enough to reach any conclusions on their characters. Maybe Robert had been an arrogant arse who began to change his attitude after volunteering. Maybe he had realized there was something more important than his little insignificant world.

“I’m in for tomorrow,” he said in his deep voice, eyes back on the pages of his book. I had seen him reading it the previous day and I had already read the book, but never mentioned it to him. It wasn’t that I wanted to start a conversation with him.

Louise shot me a questioning stare. “Yes, yes, I’m in, too,” I agreed. “Margaret?” It took her a moment to come back to reality and I noticed that her eyes were moist. “Will you come to the BBQ party tomorrow?” I asked, trying not to add any pressure to my tone.

She nodded and smiled, the colour of her eyes a deep chocolate brown that made me smile back.

“Perfect!” Louise stood up, stretched, and declared, “We have to go shopping.”  

“Will we invite the rest of the volunteers? The locals? I’m sure Chikondi would be glad to come.”

Robert rolled his eyes, but Jeremy agreed with me. With Louise’s and Margaret’s nods, he left the house to inform everyone about our little party.

“Tell them to bring food and drinks!” Louise shouted after him and he waved his hand, signaling that he had heard her.

Margaret rose from her chair, coming to ask Louise about the food and I joined them, looking at Robert over my shoulder. “Well, are you coming? Or do we have to do everything while you lounge here with your book?” I sneered at him.

He heaved a heavy sigh and rose, leaving his book on the table next to my chair. “Happy?”

“Whatever you say.”

“Let’s go!” Louise nodded towards the street and linked her arm with Margaret’s, leaving me and Robert behind. Robert smiled at Margaret when she turned to look at us, a real smile, and it was the first time I noticed that he had always been kind to her.

Maybe he’s not that bad.

When he looked down at me, a sly grin replaced the smile on his face. “Nice hair.”

I resisted patting my hair, even though I could feel that my curls had gone wild with the humidity, but I couldn’t resist huffing.

No, he’s definitely a prat.

Five minutes later we were in the town center, checking the food counters. I stood in front of a bowl of caterpillars, wondering if any of the rest had tried them. Chikondi had told me that ifinkubala were delicious, fried and served with tomatoes, onions and nshima, the staple carbohydrate of Zambia. They certainly didn’t seem delicious.

“Don’t even think about it,” Robert drawled, glancing at the bowl with disdain.

I wondered if Jamie would try them. He was always so adventurous with food. Seeing that he had eaten haggis regularly, I could easily imagine him eating caterpillars. I took a picture with my phone, smiling at the woman behind the counter, intending to send it to him when we went back to the house.

“Are you done?” Robert asked in a bored voice.

“Yes, I’m done,” I replied keeping my own voice as flat as possible.

“Let’s go then. I think we stayed long enough in the vicinity of fried insects.”

“They’re larvae, actually.”

He rolled his eyes, making it obvious how mundane he found this information. “I want to buy vitumbuwa for my afternoon tea,” he stated, as if I was in his service and I should buy them for him.

I struggled for a moment, trying to remember what vitumbuwa was without asking him. He must have seen my face because he snickered, “The fried dough balls with sugar.”

“Oh, right!” I smiled. I wanted to buy some of them too. And even though I wouldn’t admit it out loud, he was right -- they would be perfect with tea.

I checked my phone for any messages from Jamie, but I realized it was still too early for him. I saw his smile in my background picture, however, and smiled back, as if he could see me.

Jamie would definitely eat caterpillars. And if he’d like them, he would try to feed them to me too.

For the first time in the two weeks since I had arrived in Zambia, I found an advantage on Jamie staying back in Michigan. At least I could avoid the caterpillars without a battle now. Chuckling, I walked next to Robert, who shot me a strange glance but proceeded with his search for vitumbuwa, ignoring me further.

Not caring a bit, I smiled again. Today was Saturday. And that meant I could go to the cafe and call Jamie the moment he woke up.

Chapter 52

[chaletnz]

Istanbul: Fatih/Constantinople

My plan for my last day in Istanbul was a walking tour but I just couldn't drag myself out of this comfortable bed! I had breakfast, packed my bag for the day and walked up a very steep hill to catch my first bus of the day to "Panorama 1453" where the ancient walls of Fatih are located. Immediately outside the main station I bought one of these bread roll things that everyone was selling for just .75 lira. I ate half as I walked around to look at the walls but it was dry as a bone so I left it on a napkin on a bench for a stray dog to eat! I took a connecting tram into the city centre which got very crowded very quickly and I had to shove my way past people to get off at the Grand Bazaar. When I first walked inside (through a metal detector mind you) I was surprised and maybe even slightly shocked at how clean and tidy it was. There were tiled floors and a janitor, and friendly shopkeepers that weren't actually trying to haggle. The shops themselves were actual shops not just stalls so it was almost like a mall instead of the flea market-esque place that I'd pictured. I wandered around randomly and surely passed several of the shops multiple times. I picked up a small pot to brew the Turkish coffee in and I was also lured into another store to taste some Turkish delight and ended up buying a few pieces to eat while I was looking around but all of the shops seemed to have the same stuff. I was already feeling tired from the crowds so I stopped at a small cafe for a Turkish coffee break. The waiter was so relaxed and chilled out even though he also seemed really nervous like it was his first day and he didn't know what to do. The barista would jump in and come to his rescue when people spoke English and he didnt understand, or asked for directions to places he didn't know - and the coffee was superb too! Next I visited Beyazit square which was colourful with its red Turkish flags hanging everywhere, some emblazoned with "Saadet" which had me presume that there must be an election coming up. I browsed the markets with more cheap fake clothing amongst other trinkets and watched a crazy dog barking and chasing a street sweeper. Finally I visited the Hagia Sophia mosque and the blue mosque - the famous touristy landmarks of Istanbul that were of course bustling with people. Lines to go inside the mosques were very long so I just admired from the outside. I decided to walk downhill a bit further to see what looked like a Palace on the map but I ended up not really finding anything except no way to get back! Being outside the EU now my phone had no data and no wifi connection so I relied on a subway map to direct me to the nearest subway station that was about a 20 minute walk through the Russian/Ukrainian corner of the city. After walking what felt like forever I boarded the Taksim line back to the Taksim Square where I'd been yesterday. I headed straight for the Hafiz Mustafa shop again to buy a lot of the pomegranate Turkish delight that I just loved! I found myself also in desperate need of a toilet so I decided I'd have afternoon tea here too and sat on the rooftop terrace for a Turkish tea and pomegranate pistachio kadayif. I used their wifi to get myself directions and headed back down the main road for a quick tavum döner. I sat upstairs to eat amongst an absolute bomb site of trays and leftovers and watched in amusement as the Turkish people all came in and were shocked at the mess, rudely demanded the staff clean it up for them and sit down complaining - only to leave the exact same mess behind when they had finished! There was even a woman smoking through the partially open window! I thought to myself they've got no right to be shocked at this mess they arrive to when it's the exact same one that they themselves leave behind. After my döner I caught the bus back to the hotel and accidentally got off way too early at a set of shops that looked very familiar but were not in fact the set of shops I needed to get off at... but I simply waited a few minutes and caught the next bus along! I watched the sunset from my private terrace and then went out later in search of baklava that I could bring back to Frankfurt for my colleagues but came up empty handed. There were some very friendly guys that coaxed me into their restaurant and after all my walking I felt a bit peckish again so I went for a lamb durum wrap just to try something different. It wasn't amazing but the family working on this restaurant were all very chatty and made me feel welcome so that made up for it!

[woossexyponytail]

The nature of the beast (Part 8)

(Jungkook x reader)

(Werewolf x Witch)

Summery: it's hard to keep a promise to stay away from someone you love especially if that person imprinted on you.

<<Previously | Next >>

<< Masterlist >>

It had been a month at college and y/n bank account started to get low, Mi na suggested to get a job and thankfully the vet down the road had an opening since it was just one guy working there called Yeong-ho who is a supernatural healer.

Yeong-ho was a 34 year old man who owns the vets, he promise y/n to help her healing with easy methods on animals and humans.

Walking in to the cafe with Mi na after classes, both of them saw kunwoo sitting reading the newspaper, sitting down with him Mi na took the paper from kunwoo.

"Murders? Here what the?" Mi na questioned y/n took the paper from her, reading it "three people have been found dead" y/n looked up shocked kunwoo nodded.

"My mum said she's seen all the body's it was a family Mother, father, older brother. Chul was the youngest. And the only one that got away." Kunwoo said Mi na nodded "right your mother is a nurse at the hospital" she said.

"The question is From who?" Y/n said putting the paper down "there are deep cuts, a combination of sharp and blunt force trauma. Some kind of axe." Kunwoo said "An axe murderer?" Y/n asked "A family murdering axe murderer." Mi na said "we need to be careful".

Sitting in class y/n writing down notes as the teacher talked about different types of Human biology, y/n felt someone tap on her shoulder, looking behind her jungkook sat a serious expression on his face"Can we get out of class now it's important?" He asked she nodded, both walking out of class without being noticed.

"So what do you wanna talk about?" Y/N asked as her and jungkook walked down the hall "Just come with me" he said grabbing her hand and running out of the college.

After a few minutes jungkook took y/n to an abandoned train station with train's that where also abandoned, sliding the door open on one of the trains helping y/n up, the train was nice and cozy, with sofas, beenbags and tables.

y/n was meet by six other werewolves aka jungkook pack, walking in she noticed that the boys where surrounding jimin who was laying on the floor with an axe in his chest.

"Oh god, What happened?" She asked getting a better look at Jimin "did you hear about the family that was murdered? The same person tried to kill jimin the cut on his chest isn't deep but there is something that is slowly killing him, can you check?"

"I I'm not sure, why don't you guys bring him to the vets Yeong-ho could help" she said as they noded getting jimin up and help him to the vets.

Opening the door y/N ran in to the back to find Yeong-ho after finding him they put jimin on the metal table Yeong-ho grabbed the axe that was still in jimin chest.

"This is gonna hurt" he said jimin nodded as Yeong-ho pulled out the axe jimin grunting as his nails turn in to claws finally Getting it out of him, Yeong-ho looked at the axe.

"The axe is laced with wolfsbane. I don't know the species so we're going to have to burn it out. Y/N do you mind?" He asked looking at her she nodded and looked at Jimin with worry in her eyes "I think I can handle a little fire." Jimin said laughing.

Y/n smiled, grabbing a pen from the desk and Draw a penntagram on her hand making a fist with her hand and then closed her eyes, her hand turn into flames.

"Ah, hell." Jimin said and started to scream as y/n put her hand to the cut on his chest. After the cut healed y/n moved back next to jungkook as jimin sat up rubbing his chest.

"He said he was after you." Jimin said looking up at Namjoon "How does a guy with no mouth say anything?" Taehyung asked, jimin got up and grabbed something from his pocket, holding it up to show everyone "With this."

"I still don't get how this guy has no mouth I mean How can he eat?" Jin asked "I didn't get a chance to ask. I was fighting him off with a tomahawk buried in my chest." Jimin said glaring at jin as he sheepish smiled back at him.

"Who runs around with a tomahawk?" Y/n asked "soldier's carried them for IED removal in Afghanistan. It's military. And so is that." Yeong-ho said pointing at the thing jimin was holding.

"Do you know what it's used for?" Asked Hoseok "Well, this one looks like it's been modified." Yeong-ho said "Show us." As Yeong-ho walked over to his laptop grabbing it from jimin.

"Okay, I think I got an IP address." Yeong-ho said "That means we can find him, right?" Jin asked "Definitely. Especially if-" Yeong-ho was cut off by Hoseok "What was that?" He said pointing to the screen "I think I found a message. Does anyone recognize the handle Benefactor?" Yeong-ho asked "Money transferred." Y/n said "What does that mean?" Jungkook asked "That means this guy is not just a killer." Y/N said "He's an assassin." Yoongi finished.

"I need to find my dad" namjoon said "and why is that?" Y/N asked "namjoon dad is the sheriff" jungkook said "you guys stay here to find out more information" namjoon said running out the vets.

After namjoon told his dad both of them went to the location that Yeong-ho found earlier which lead them to the college.

"You know, just because this guy connected to the college WiFi, doesn't mean he's still here." Namjoon said to his dad "True. But I've seen enough in this college to keep my gun in hand when walking in after dark. Like blood." Namjoon dad said looking at the floor that had a puddle of blood "That doesn't make sense. -" namjoon said.

"Yeah, no kidding." " - That's not what I mean. I should've caught the scent before we walked in." Namjoon said getting ready to open the door "Hold on." Namjoon dad said "You nervous makes me nervous." Namjoon said glaring at his dad "It's an explosive. A claymore. Get down!" Namjoon dad said. As they ran as the bomb exploded.

Getting back up thankfully namjoon and his dad didn't get hurt. Hearing footsteps Namjoon turn around to see a guy with no mouth.

"Uh dad" namjoon pointed at the guy As namjoon dad shot the guy in the head, the guy with no mouth fell down to the floor dead "Well that was anticlimactic".

After namjoon and his dad safely got more police and no one got hurt namjoon went back to the group.

Walking in y/n and Yeong-ho were on the laptop decoding the messages "did you find anything?" Namjoon asked "not yet" y/n told him.

"What is this?" Jungkook asked pointing at the screen as everyone got up to check "It's a list of supernaturals." Y/N said looking at the list of names "It's a dead pool." Yeong-ho said y/n looked around at the guys with fear in her eyes "And we're all on it."

The next day the group stayed together, since the bomb that was meant to kill namjoon yesterday damaged the building classes were cancelled for awhile.

Sitting in the cafe the seven boys and y/N sat together mi na also sat with them since she needed to study with y/n but had no idea what was going on.

"Guys! Guys!" Kunwoo ran up to the table with another newspaper in his hand, panting after running to find the girls he collapsed in a chair next to mi na as she grabbed the papers from him.

"Another body?" She said reading through, y/n looked at the papers as well "Choong-Hoon was found by a lake house decapitated outside his car" she read out looking up at the group.

"I'll be back later" namjoon said Getting up but got stopped by jin "I'm going with you" jin said as they nodded to the rest and left the cafe.

"That was weird, anyway my mum said that the decapitation was a clean cut" kunwoo said "what does that mean?" Mi na asked "it means that it was a sharp object" Yoongi said also looking at the papers.

"There's more" kunwoo said looking at the group "my mum said that, Well this seems crazy but apparently everyone who died so far are not human, strange right" he finished.

"Like supernatural?" Mi na asked kunwoo nodded, y/n looked up at jungkook as he looked back panic in their eyes along with the rest of the pack.

"That is crazy" Hoseok said laughing nervously flinching as Yoongi kicked him under the table to shut him up.

"Yeah your right, I mean it's not like I saw someone transform in to a wolf or anything" kunwoo said glacing at jungkook, y/n flinched at that looking up at jungkook squeezing his hand.

"Why don't the three of us go, we need to get that thing right mi na?" Y/n said Getting up pulling mi na and kunwoo and walking out.

"What the hell was that?" Y/n asked kunwoo, as mi na was being very quiet "how much do you trust your so called boyfriend?" Kunwoo asked "what's that suppose to mean?" She asked.

"I saw him turn into a wolf" he said "he's a werewolf I knew it" mi na said glaring in the direction of the cafe. Y/n eyes widened along with kunwoo.

"I thought I was hallucinating, your telling me it real?" He asked mi na nodded "My family are hunters, I know a werewolf when I see one, sorry y/n but I have to tell my dad" mi na said.

"Ok you are NOT killing him got it" y/N said glaring at mi na, she laughed "I'm trying to save you, you don't understand how dangerous they can be" mi na said.

"You kill him, I kill you" y/n said holding her hand up as fire came off it "your a witch?" Mi na asked eyes widened "fine if you trust him so do I" she said smiling, y/N put her hand down and started laughing along with mi na.

"I'm so confused" kunwoo said eyes wide as y/n and Mi na looked back at kunwoo forgetting he was there "oh right uh looks like we have a lot to explain" Mi na said "no shit".

After y/n told the boys that kunwoo now knew about the supernatural they decided to take him to the abandoned train station to talk with him. Yoongi text namjoon and jin to meet there to explain everything.

All nine of them stared at kunwoo as he looked at each person slowly trying to get his head around the situation.

"So your a hunter, your a witch and your a werewolf, and so are you and you and you and-" kunwoo got cut off "the seven of us are fucking werewolves, now get that through your thick skull" Yoongi said glaring, kunwoo looked back at y/n and Mi na "he's mean, I don't like him" kunwoo said.

"Don't worry about Yoongi, he gets a little angry sometimes" jin said smiling sweetly while Yoongi rolled his eyes and the rest of the boys sniggered. "So what do you think?"

"I think your all bat shit crazy but then again I did see you turn into a wolf and you cast a spell, so I'm trying not to freak out" kunwoo said.

"And how can we trust her?" Yoongi said glaring at mi na, "listen I know it will take time but I promise I won't hurt any of you, as long as you guys don't kill innocent people" "fair enough".

Namjoon phone went off in that moment as everyone looked at him his face turn pale reading the text he got.

"Shit, that kid Chul, they found him dead in the hospital five minutes ago" namjoon said everyone looked down, kunwoo spoke up "So what's going on with all these deaths?" He asked.

"Yeah I wanna know too" Mi na said crossing her arms "then let me show you" namjoon said.

Walking to the vets was the safest place for them at this moment, Yeong-ho sat in front of his desk to keep an eye out for anyone while the rest was in the back.

The group stood in a circle around the metal table with files of the murders That namjoon took from his dad's office "So, the family were the first." Jimin said.

"At least the first that we know about." Namjoon said "three murders. Chul family, his brother, and their parents. They were killed by a professional assassin called The Mute." Yoongi said.

"Weapon of choice, a military tomahawk. But then The Mute was killed by namjoon dad after he tried to blow up namjoon with a Claymore mine." Jin said. "Wait what?" Kunwoo said looking shocked "shh" mi na said glaring at kunwoo for interrupting.

"Next was Choong-Hoon. He was found by a lake house." Hoseok said "And got decapitated outside his car." Taehyung said.

"Did the scent tell you anything?" Y/N asked looking up at Namjoon and jin "Definitely a werewolf. But there's more. I think he was part of a pack" jin said.

"Well, if he was, they'll be looking for him. And then last night, It's a dead pool. A hit list of supernatural creatures. This is only part of it. The rest still has to be decoded." Y/n said.

"All right, what are these numbers next to the names?" Mi na asked "We're getting to that. First, you need to know that we think there's two other cipher keys. Which will give us the rest of the names." Namjoon said.

"Okay. So how do we get the cipher keys?" Kunwoo asked. "Same way we got the code. Y/n." Jungkook said looking at her. "I've been searching since I found the first part trying to find the other two key words." She said.

"And what about these other two names on the list? Uh, Ahn Byeoung-Keun and Byon Su-Dae. They werewolves too?" Kunwoo asked "don't know."

"The population of Seoul is 9.86 million." Mi na said "And dropping." Jungkook said. "Look, how many werewolves, vampires, fairies and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about?" Kunwoo asked.

"And what if the next cipher key uncovers not 12 names but 100?" Mi na asked "We don't think there would be that many. There's a limit. Because of the numbers. We think that once we decode the names, the numbers will add up to 117. Million." Jin said.

"My dad said money was Stolen from the vault a few days back and is being used by someone to finance all these murders. Someone who wants every supernatural in Seoul dead" namjoon said.

"So the coded list goes out. And somehow these professional assassins get that list. And a cipher key. And then they go after the names on the list." Kunwoo said "They being killers with no mouths, tomahawks, thermo-cut wires that can take your head off." Jimin said.

"Let me see. Chul was also stabbed." Namjoon said looking at his phone "What's this mark?" Yoongi asked looking at the photo of the cut "not sure. still waiting on the ME's report." Namjoon said.

"There's one other thing I don't get. How did this new assassin know that Choong-Hoon was going to be at the lake house?" Y/N asked. "Everyone knows he delivers kegs to college party's for a little extra cash." Jungkook said "Ah. So there was a party at the lake house that night. And I wasn't invited" Taehyung said a pout on his face, The others rolled their eyes at him.

"So whoever ordered that keg killed Choong-Hoon." Hoseok said "Yeah, it was someone at the party." Yoongi nodded "A student from our college".

[dancinginfreedom]

The road is narrower than I think it is. And I am limited and can’t control everything actually anything.jpg TO CRUSH, I’ve been waiting for this and today, the long wait was over and crush, I hate to say it, but, “we will not sablay together”. Last friday.. I know it was late but finally my knucklehead finally got herself together. So, I crammed my thesis paper. It was a first progress in a very long time and to be honest that was the first day I had ever written my RND. Funny, isn’t it? It was three days before meeting my deadline and that was the only time I did it. But I’m good in cramming. Through time and experience, I became good at it. And, I hate it somehow.. Nevertheless, I was able to meet my deadline. I finished my write up from intro to appendix with much effort I can confidently say I did it with excellence. But, was it, really? Cramming to begin with? Uh-oh. And soooo I was few days before finally knowing whether I will #Sablay2018 and I was hoping for it. I was expectant, excited although somewhat fearful. And today, the day finally came. Today was an overturner. Yesterday, after attending my classes I went straight at home to continue doing my powerpoint presentation and a little bit of revision to my paper. In fact, I didn’t sleep, again. Because I also have an exam coming up on the same day, that evening. I went to the campus to had a wifi connection just so I can submit my paper and somehow inform my adviser with regards to my thesis. Afterwards, I have decided to stay at Mcdonalds so I can better focus as I study for the exam. Once in a while I had to do some changes for my powerpoint and get back on my thesis paper. Later that afternoon, I went to my thesis adviser to ask for feedback regarding to what I submitted. He asked so many questions, so many things I realized I overlooked and ignored. Then, it hit me. My mind says this is the reality but my heart won’t accept it. Ahhh~ I’m not graduating. I’m not graduating and it’s okay. I thought it’s okay. I thought it was okay. Crush, is it okay? But, it’s okay not to be okay, right? 😂😭 -Yours truly, CRUSHED. 1/2

[travelingtheusa]

UTAH

26 May 2019 (Sun) - I apologize.  We have been so busy with the caravan that I have not had a chance to write anything in this blog.  The caravan will be over on June 11.  Things should return to normal then.

 We have been rafting on the Colorado River, driven a UTV through the desert, and hiked/driven some of the most incredible landscape imaginable.  This has been an incredible experience.

 20 May 2019 (Mon) – We pulled up stakes and left Torrey at 9 a.m. with four rigs in our group.  One member of the caravan, Hank & Brenda, had to dive further south to Freightliner to get their rig repaired.  They’ve been having problems with power trying to go uphill.  Hank changed the fuel filter but it didn’t help.  Hope they can find the problem quickly and they can get back with us.

     Another member of the caravan, Shirley, broke down just after leaving the campground.  Our tail gunner, Jon, and another rig driven by Jim & Lida stopped to help.  Group four and five were combined and sent on. Shirley had her 19’ class B RV towed to a repair shop.  

 19 May 2019 (Sun) – We did the laundry this morning.  We went to one building but it was locked (reserved for housekeeping – they wash the linens for the cabins).  We went to the second building which had two washers and two dryers stacked one on top of the other.  Both washers had laundry in them.  As we started to leave, Steve (a fellow SMART member) came up and moved his clothes to the dryers.  We loaded our clothes in the two washers and when we put in the coins, one machine broke down.  We had to unload that washer and just let the one washer go.  When we came back, we moved the wash to the dryer and put the second batch of clothes in the washer.  It took longer to do the wash than usual.  Ugh.

     At noon, we drove down the road to the general store.  We couldn’t find most of what we wanted so we just got travel tissues and post cards for the grandsons.  Then we went to the Wild Rabbit Café for lunch.  They had a very limited menu – two sandwiches or a salad. We both got BLTs.

     It was back to the campground and finishing up with the caravan materials.  At 5:00 p.m. we had a potluck dinner.  Paul managed to hang a tarp over one of the open doorways to cut down on the wind. Jon brought over his propane fireplace, which added a nice warmth to the pavilion.  The food was, as usual, good and plentiful.  At 6:30 p.m. we had our travel meeting.  The weather turned nasty and cold.  Some kind of cold weather system blew in.  Brrrrr.

 18 May 2019 (Sat) – At 9:00 a.m. we pulled out of the campground with 8 cars following; 19 of us looking forward to a great day of exploration. The temperatures were warmer than yesterday and most of the clouds were gone.  With John Denver songs playing on the stereo, we led the group down Route 12, America’s Byway.  The scenery was very lush.  As we moved into higher elevations, forests of pine and aspen lined the roadway. Soon, whole sides of the mountain were filled with quaking aspen waiting to explode into their springtime bloom. We stopped at several overlooks to admire the grandeur spread before us.

     When we reached the end of Route 12, one couple turned back and four stopped to tour the Anasazi Village Museum.  Four of us turned left onto the Burr Trail.  John Denver done, we slipped in a CD of music of the American Southwest. The sound of screaming eagles and howling coyotes joined in with flutes and drums.  We drove along the two lane road, admiring the ever changing scenery before us.  The variety of colors and shapes was incredible.  After about two hours of driving, we pulled onto a turn out that overlooked the Black Canyon and had lunch.  For half an hour, we gazed out over the land below and were filled with awe at the Creator’s handiwork.

     Lunch all done, we continued on the Burr Trail.  That’s where things got really interesting.  A little after turning heading out, the pavement ended and we were driving on a dirt road.  A little further on, we came upon a series of switchbacks with deep downgrades.  It was an adrenaline pumping ride!  We turned off Burr Trail on to Notom Trail and the road soon found pavement again. The entire ride was about five hours long.  

     At 5:00 p.m. we all drove to the Capitol Reef Inn & Café. There was some confusion and the group wound up arriving too early and ordering things that were different than the pre-ordered food.  Most of the food was good and the service was excellent.

 17 May 2019 (Fri) – We packed up and left Bryce Canyon City at 9:00 a.m.  We led four other rigs on a 110-mile route to Torrey.  The scenery was absolutely beautiful!  We had free range cows wandering in the road, there was a skunk walking on the side of the road in the bushes, cows grazing in wide open grasslands, and hawks flying overhead.  The weather was cold when we started out and got colder.  Eventually, we had sleet and snow in small spurts.  The wind was really cold.

     When we arrived at the campground, I went in the office to pay the bill.  The clerk gave me campground maps to hand out to everyone and informed me that ten sites were 50-amp and eleven were 30-amp.  That is bad news in the camping world.  You always want 50-amp.  I waited until Jon got in and then we went in to talk to the manager about the situation. I couldn’t believe she didn’t see any difference between 30-amp and 50-amp sites except if you needed to use air conditioners.  Ugh.

     The group tried to have social hour at 4:00 p.m. but the weather was cold and the wind was blowing so we all retreated to our rigs.  I hope tomorrow is nice for our ride on Route 12.

 16 May 2019 (Thu) – Paul and I drove part of the route for tomorrow’s move just to ensure everyone would be able to negotiate it alright. There were two herds of cows wandering on the roadway and a creek was very full and touching the roadway.  If we get rain tonight, the road may be flooded when we try to drive it.  Otherwise the drive was pleasant.  We stopped in Panguitch and looked at the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy.  It was just a log cabin with a storyboard outside. Not much to see.  We had lunch at the Cowboy Café.  Their roasted red pepper soup and cole slaw were so good that we bought more to take home.

      We had social hour at 4:00 p.m. and travel meeting following.  The wind was blowing fiercely and the temperatures have dropped dramatically.  We have a freeze warning for tonight.  Also, it rained heavily for an hour.  Paul will have to get up early and drive tomorrow’s route to make sure the road is open. Otherwise, we will have to use an alternate route.

     After the meeting, we went to dinner at Ruby’s Inn Restaurant with Rick & Brenda and Hank & Brenda.  The food and company were good.

 15 May 2019 (Wed) – The National Park Service provided a special bus for us to take a tour of Bryce Canyon.  The bus arrived at 10:00 a.m. and we took a three hour tour.  The driver drove all the way to the end of the 17-mile loop then stopped at various overlooks on the way back.  He was a retired vet and provided an entertaining and informative ride.

     At 7:00 p.m. we went to a cowboy dinner show at Ebenezer’s Barn & Grill.  There was food and music and lots of clapping and singing.  We had a very good time.

 14 May 2019 (Tue) – We moved from Zion to Bryce Canyon City today. We packed up and left at 9 a.m. with four rigs following behind us.  The ride was easy and we arrived around noon.  The campground is very nice.  We are in a new part where the campsites are very roomy and each has a large grassy plot. The interior roads are nicely graded.

     Bryce Canyon City is an interesting town.  It is owned entirely by the family of the original founder. The entrance to the National Park is just a block away.

13 May 2019 (Mon) – We got up at 4:30 a.m., fed the animals, and packed up for a sunrise hike to Zion Canyon Overlook.  We met Rick & Brenda at 5:30 a.m. and they drove us up the route through the Mount Carmel Tunnel.  We climbed up the trail

     We had a potluck dinner and travel meeting today.  The food was so plentiful.  It was a delightful day.  The cell phone serve and wifi in this area sucks!  Whenever I try to send a message, I get an error message saying the message could not be sent.  The jet pack can’t connect to the internet.  I have been unable to connect to Tumblr or to post anything on Facebook. I don’t know what it’s so bad. It’s hard to try to download anything or to make calls.  I can’t wait to get out of this area.

 12 May 2019 (Sun-Mother’s Day) – Jan & Nancy gave all the ladies a red rose this morning.  We all drove into Zion National Park today.  Some hiked trails and others drove scenic routes.  We rode with Rick & Brenda into the park.  We left the car at the visitor’s center and caught the shuttle to stop 6 where we hiked to The Grotto.  Then we hiked to the lower Emerald Pools.  The upper Emerald Pools and Kayenta Trail were closed due to recent flooding.

     I checked in at 12:15 and got tickets for everyone.  At 12:45 p.m. everyone gathered at the foot of the stairs to the Red Rock Grill.  I turned in the tickets to the head waiter and we were all seated on the second floor. The restaurant served a taco salad bar. The choices were plentiful.

     Afterward, we returned to the campground and worked on caravan stuff.

 11 May 2019 (Sat) – We left Boulder City, NV, at 8:00 a.m. and drove 170 miles to Zion Canyon.  We are staying in Zion River RV Resort in Virgin, UT.  It is a very nice campground with pool, spacy sites, grass at each site, concrete pads, picnic tables, fire pits, wifi (poor), and asphalt roadways.

    We had group 4 follow their GPS rather than the prescribed route and they wound up driving through Las Vegas.  Sadly, they missed a very scenic route through Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  Everyone was finally arrived by 3:00 p.m.

[aventurasennicaragua]

June 8th-21st: Last Weeks in Granada + First Week in Juigalpa

*I apologize for the lack of photos in this post.  They will be coming soon!*

My last week and a half in Granada included my final Spanish and Instrumentation lectures, two frustrating but insightful trips to Ticuantepe, some exciting weekend adventures, and lots of good-byes.  We finished our Spanish classes with a comprehensive exam, which tested our knowledge on both language and the history of Nicaragua.  Afterwards, the teachers threw us a farewell party, complete with Spanish-related games, a piñata, and some delicious local pizza.  I’m thankful for my experiences with NSLS, and I really feel that my Spanish has improved significantly with them.  I’ll miss my discussions with my classmates, McKenna and Jack, and my professor, Maria Lydia; however, I’m excited and ready to immerse myself in an entirely Spanish-speaking hospital.

During our last engineering lecture, Iyad had a personal discussion with us about our preparedness for the second month and how we should appreciate this one-of-a-kind opportunity.  He explained that at his current point in life, where he is married, has children, and works full-time at a university, he would never have the chance to travel to another country for two months and volunteer at a hospital.  We should be fortunate, he said, and I could not agree more.  Would I able to do this in two years or so, after I’ve graduated from GW and started working somewhere?  I mean, maybe, but probably not.  He explained that we should do everything we can to take advantage of the second month, including learning about new devices, making a positive impact on the hospitals, and making lasting friendships with both our coworkers and host families.

For my last two Friday hospital visits (June 9th and June 16th), I traveled to the city of Masaya.  On the first day, our coordinator told us that one of the doctors needed two students that could test some donated hospital devices in another area.  Seth, my Month 2 partner, volunteered to go, as did I - I figured it’d be good to start developing a working relationship with him.  We met Dr. Vidal Ruiz, an interesting individual with a quirky sense of humor.  He began driving us to what we thought was a satellite hospital campus where the devices were stored.  However, we soon realized that something had been lost in translation, since he ended up driving us to his house in Ticuantepe.  When we arrived, we assembled a table and some chairs and quickly got to work.  The equipment was difficult to sort through… There were boxes overflowing with cables, dusty and neglected defibrillators, stacks of ECG paper and bandages, and more.  From the get-go, I was frustrated by the lack of organization and I felt that I had no idea where to start.  For someone who can be a little too analytical and methodical, I realized that I needed to overcome this frustration and just look at the devices one by one.  Seth and I went through a bunch of AEDs, patient monitoring systems, IV pumps, and more.  By the end of the day, we had sorted the devices by their degrees of functionality, and we wrote some notes explaining what we had done.  Next Friday, I went back to Masaya and was once again asked to work at Dr. Vidal’s house.  This time, Jack volunteered to come with me.  We went through some more devices, and this time I felt more satisfied with what we had accomplished.  We called Dr. Vidal, explained what we had worked on, and headed back to Granada.

Over the past two weekends, I hiked the Mombacho Volcano (which included ziplining over the forest canopy) and relaxed on Ometepe Island.  Mombacho was great.  The volcano is considered semi-active, but it hasn’t erupted in 20,000 years.  For that reason, a lush rainforest has grown on top, which was beautiful to hike through.  From the top, we could see Granada, Lake Nicaragua, and Las Isletas - little island chains in the lake near Granada.  If Mombacho was great, then ziplining was amazing.  Flying through the air over the trees was an experience like no other, and we even got to see a bunch of monkeys hanging out in the trees.  The following weekend, 11 of us traveled to Ometepe, an island on Lake Nicaragua formed by two colossal volcanoes.  The only way to get there is by driving to the town of Rivas and taking a ferry across the lake.  During the trip, a bunch of us hiked to a beautiful waterfall called La Cascada de San Ramon.  It was by far the biggest waterfall that I’ve ever seen, and standing underneath the water felt incredible.  The next day, a couple of us biked for 4 hours to see a natural spring pool called Ojo de Agua.  I really liked Ojo de Agua, but I was surprised to see that it looked more like a community pool than a watering hole hidden in the forest, which is kind of what I was imagining.  The most exciting part of the trip was seeing 4 tarantulas, two of which happened to be in my shoe (I noticed this after I put my foot in; it was terrifying and I screamed quite a bit).  We left Ometepe early in the morning on Monday, and arrived back in Granada around 10:30AM.  I finished up last-minute tasks, like doing my laundry and replying to some emails, packed my bags, and spent the night saying good-bye to friends and my Nicaraguan family.  I was sad to leave everyone, but excited to start my new journey in Juigalpa.

Yesterday, Seth and I were driven from Granada to Juigalpa, where we met our new homestay family.  Our family is a proud owner of a pizza restaurant, which happens to be connected to their house!  We had some of their pizza for dinner last night and it was amazing.  My new mom’s name is Lesbia, and she has a 26-year-old daughter, Lesja, and a 25-year-old son, Jader.  Karen, Jader’s wife, also lives with them, along with their 3-year-old daughter, Isabel.  Our first day with them was really interesting.  They drove us to a nearby town called Santo Thomas, where we had delicious quesillo and seafood.  When we came back to Juigalpa, Seth and I passed out, woke up for dinner, explored the town a bit, and then passed out again.

Today was our first day in the hospital.  We met the crew of maintenance workers: Jose, Elgin, Jader, Hector, and Pedro.  We spent the day working with Jose, and we fixed a ventilator (which ended up in the pediatric ICU unit) and then we worked on some pulse oximeters.  The guys are a friendly and funny bunch, and I’m looked forward to working more with them.  I would write more about this first day at the hospital, but unfortunately, I’m at the point where I’ve been writing this blog post for a pretty long time and I’m about to pass out :(  One thing that I’d like to acknowledge - I have stronger wifi here in Juigalpa, so I’m hoping to update this blog more!  With that said, hopefully there will be more stories coming soon :)  

[teasoundsgood]

(Artichoke) Hearts Chapter 1

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Read here or on 1DFF

You UV Blue me away

***

If I had to pinpoint the root of all my problems it would be the YogaWorks Brentwood prenatal yoga class of 1994.

Now, in their defense, Janet Cleveland, Laura Adams, and Heather Franklin (now Heather Baranoski) had no clue the havoc their actions would reek on my life at the time. They were all just hormonal pregnant woman who wanted to tree pose and breathe and whatever else you do in prenatal yoga class. But after meeting in class and bonding over vomiting on yoga mats and the whole having unborn children in their wombs thing, these four mothers became the best of friends and simultaneously caused all of my problems for the past 21 years and probably for the rest of my life.

John Quincy Adams was born at 7:41PM October 31, 1994

Grover Cleveland was born at 3:15AM November 2, 1994

And finally Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born at 10:52PM November 4, 1994 followed 9 minutes later by his twin sister Teddy Roosevelt. Me.

Why, you ask, did 3 severely pregnant women decide that naming all of their children after dead US presidents was a good idea? Well, that you’ll have to ask them because I have no clue. All I do know is that being the youngest—no matter if its only weeks, days, or mere minutes—of a group of boys who don’t understand that just because you’re all named after some dead guys doesn’t mean you have to be together all the time was a recipe for disaster.

And I’m a cook so I should know.

Not a professional cook though. College took up way too much time for that, but I did have a food blog that was doing pretty well. (Artichoke) Hearts was organized by season (fall, spring, summer, winter, and holidays), meal time (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks), and type (meat, vegetarian, vegan—my mom wanted me to add a kosher section, but that would mean I would have to actually cook kosher). It wasn’t hugely popular—like say, I don’t know, an up-and-coming currently touring band with two #1 singles on iTunes—but BuzzFeed Food used a good number of my recipes and I had a solid following of moms who appreciated my organization, food photography skills, and my clever analogies in my pre-recipe articles.

Oh, the recipes were pretty good too.

Not that anyone in my family would know. They were all terrible besides Isabelle, but I��m not at all related to her so she didn’t count. Holly was getting pretty good at being my kitchen assistant, but she was eight and technically only related to Isabelle (and a sperm donor with an IQ of 167 and no family history of medical problems). But my father, brother, and mother were still learning how to boil pasta. How I was born into a family of non-cooks I would never know, but it was probably the reason I was so good at cooking.

At seven I was tired of take-out, frozen food, and PB&Js so I learned to make eggs and pasta.

At ten I was making snacks for my brother and the boys after school.

At twelve I was making dinner every night (except for Wednesdays and Saturdays when my brother and I stayed with mom and Isabelle), even though my dad insisted I didn’t have to.

At sixteen I catered the Dead Presidents’ Society Sixteenth Birthday Bash (JQ still says it was his birthday party because we threw it on Halloween and I’ve stopped arguing with him at this point).

And at eighteen (on February 9th at 10:08PM), under the influence of a little too much wine and the encouragement of Pia and Astrid—who were under the influence of a little too much wine and my fried mac-n-cheese balls—I started my blog.

It took awhile, but with consistent posting, a pretty and easily navigated layout, and solid recipes, soon enough (Artichoke) Hearts had become one of the most successful food blogs out there.

Which, as the youngest member of the Dead Presidents’ Society—and the only one who doesn’t play an instrument—gave me just a bit of leverage over those absolute eggheads.

“C’mon Ted, I’m starving,” FDR complained, the WiFi connection a little slow so his voice came through before his pout did.

“We’re starving,” I heard Grover call somewhere off screen.

“We’re starving,” FDR repeated. “C’mon sis, you can’t let us starve to death. You’d be the only Dead President remaining. You’d have to take over all of our jobs to keep the society alive.”

“You can’t play any instruments, it would be very difficult,” Grover added as he sat down on the couch next to my brother, both of them with well-practiced pouts on their faces. But I’d been a main recipient of those pouts from all three of them for the past 21 years so I was completely desensitized.

“I highly doubt that me catering your welcome home pre-show party in three weeks will help with your current starvation problem,” I told them.

“The human body can survive three weeks without food,” Grover pointed out.

“You make an excellent point. But you can still get literally anyone else to do it.” I hummed with a self-satisfied smile on my face. “Oh don’t give me that…” I scolded as the pouts deepened. “Based on Quinn’s most recent report, you boys haven’t done anything that would warrant me cooking for hours for you and your friends.”

Quinn was the Dead Presidents’ Society’s manager extraordinaire and, even though I wasn’t a member of the band, I was her favorite. It might’ve been because I was the first one she met or because I was the one who convinced the boys to pick her over the three other companies who wanted them, but it was probably because I was her secret weapon to get the boys to do whatever she wanted them to.

Or, more specifically, my food was.

“But you love cooking,” FDR whined.

“I cook for people not pigs,” I stated, getting confused frowns in response. I rolled my eyes and blew out a puff of air before continuing. “Your tour bus stinks, you haven’t done laundry for the past month and a half, and you haven’t been eating any of your vegetables,” I listed, recalling my chat with Quinn yesterday when she called to enlist my help in keeping the boys of The Dead Presidents’ Society alive.

“Not true,” FDR argued. “JQ and I had mashed potatoes with dinner last night.”

“Potatoes are nutritionally a starch not a vegetable,” I corrected him.

“Well…um…you’re a starch not a vegetable,” FDR said. It seemed that his time on the road really hadn’t taught him any new comebacks from when we were seven.

“Good one,” I deadpanned.

“How can I be clever when I’m starving to death?”

“If you’re really that desperate for food then go eat some carrots,” I told them both sternly. I might be the youngest of the group (and constantly reminded of it), but I’m really the only responsible one. “And an apple or two.”

“You’re no fun,” FDR pouted.

“Well how can I be when I have to take care of the three of you from LA?” I asked. “Speaking of, where’s the other one?”

I didn’t even know why I still asked about JQ on these Skype calls, it’s not like he’s been present for any of them. But I wasn’t able to completely stop caring about someone I’d known my entire life (unlike him), so I still had to ask.

“JQ’s working on a song down the hall—”

“No, Q was flirting with that bartender,” FDR corrected and I wasn’t surprised at all.

“Yeah, but you went to pee and he left her to go work on a song,” Grover told FDR then turned back to me. “He’s written like five just this week for the next album. I think we’re going to test a couple out at the welcome home show.”

“Another reason you should cater it,” FDR added.

“Not going to work,” I sang.

“You’re the wor—”

“Hey, can we meet early to work on a few new songs?” I knew it was JQ’s voice from the first word.

He might not’ve spoken to me in months, but I’d watched all of their interviews and listened to every song the band had released since last fall. Not to mention I’d heard his voice almost every day of my life growing up.

“Yeah we just have to finish up with Ted,” FDR replied. “Say hi to JQ, Teddy!”

“Hi to JQ, Teddy,” I mocked because actually saying hi to him like a normal adult was too much to ask.

“Hey Teddy,” he replied, but the camera was still facing FDR and Grover so I had no clue what JQ was doing. “I’m going to go tune my guitar.”

I guess he was leaving.

“I should tune mine too,” Grover added after the door clicked shut behind JQ and pushed himself up off the couch. He grinned broadly and waved at the camera. “Bye Teddy.”

“Bye Grover.” I waved back and watched as he disappeared off my screen.

I guess he was going too.

“I should get going anyway,” I said after I heard the door click shut on the other side. “Pia just got back and roped us all into helping her move in.”

“All six of you?” FDR asked.

“Rose isn’t back yet, but yeah pretty much. Pia’s got a lot of stuff you need more than one person to carry. Plus she bribed us with free Indian food.”

“How much do you want to bet the Kapoors just didn’t want to help Pia move in and the food was their idea?” FDR smirked.

“Oh one hundred percent,” I agreed and smiled at my brother. “Ajinder and Rajpreet Kapoor would never give out free food unless they got something out of it.”

“You on the other hand…” FDR trailed off and suddenly the pout was back.

“Look, if you all clean up your act for the last few weeks of tour and stop making Quinn think she’s wrangling pigs not managing a band, then yes,” I gave in and FDR’s pout was immediately replaced by a shit-eating grin. “But final word comes from Quinn!”

“Thanks Teds, we won’t let you down!”

“You better not, mister,” I narrowed my eyes. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Talk to you later,” He replied. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

FDR hung up with a final cheesy grin and wave, leaving me alone for approximately 30 seconds until the familiar sound of a door opening and two collars jingling signaled two dogs and a dad (mine, to be specific) had come back from their walk.

“You just missed FDR,” I told my dad as he rounded the corner and knelt down to let the dogs off their leashes. Fairbanks was a perfect gentleman (obviously) and patiently let Dad take off his leash before trotting over and sitting in front of the couch, next to my feet. Cactus Jack was too busy swinging around a large stick he found because, even though my brother hadn’t been here for months, his dog still behaved exactly like him.

“Eh, I talked to him yesterday,” my dad shrugged after he finally got Jack’s collar off.

“Glad to know you really care about your only son,” I snorted and Fairbanks thought it was a weird sneeze so he jumped up on my lap and put his nose in my face to investigate. Despite how much I loved him, I didn’t really want to french kiss my dog so I pushed him back down pretty quickly.

“John Nance Garner pooped four times today so I’d much rather spend the night with my lovely daughter and her even lovelier dog who only pooped once,” he said as he sat down on the other side of the couch. I could tell dad and CJ weren’t on speaking terms by my dad’s use of his full name. When Dad used his kids’ (or his kids’ dogs’) full names, you knew he was annoyed.

As if to prove a point, Cactus Jack jumped up on my dad’s lap and proceeded to chew his stick from his new perch.

“While I’m honored I’m the favorite, I’ll need to take a raincheck on daddy-daughter time tonight. Pia is moving her stuff into her and Astrid’s apartment today so we’re all going over to help.”

“She promised you all food, didn’t she?” he asked.

“Free food. From Tandor,” I answered.

“Well I can’t argue with that. I’d ditch you for the night if the Kapoors bribed me with food,” Dad stood up—causing Cactus Jack to flop to the floor, but he was too busy with his stick to look upset for more than a few seconds—and kissed me on the top of the head from behind the couch. “Have fun with everyone. Do you need me to watch the pups tonight?”

“I mean, I can bring them with me if you want, but it would probably be easier. I think I might sleep over at Pia’s tonight.”

“You planning a wild party?”

“I’m not, but I’d be surprised if Reese wasn’t,” I answered honestly.

“Well then make sure to take a shot for me and the dogs then,” he said. “But only one. I’d rather not hear about my daughter getting shwasted and running through campus.”

“Dad, I thought you knew me better than that. You’d never hear about it.”

***

“Astrid, you know you’re the one who actually lives here. You could, oh I don’t know, help,” Dom huffed after he and Cole put the couch down in Pia and Astrid’s new living room.

“I carried a box in before you got here,” Astrid said through a mouthful of Chana Masala.

“Well I’ve carried a couch, a table, and two boxes and I haven’t even gotten any food yet,” Dom threw back with his hands on his hips. His face was getting red and I was pretty sure it wasn’t because of carrying a couch in the L.A. heat.

“That’s not my fault,” Astrid shrugged and had another mouthful of food. Dominic’s face was getting redder and it definitely wasn’t because of the heat.

“Okay, why don’t we all take a break,” I interrupted the fight that was definitely about to happen and put down the box I’d carried up behind Cole and Dom.

“Reese is carrying up the last two chairs and there’s only two small boxes left that I can get later so let’s just call it a night,” Pia added in and put down her box next to the door before collapsing on the couch the boys just brought in. “Cole, bring me a tub of chicken korma, will you?”

“Yeah, want anything else?” Cole asked over his shoulder as he walked to the kitchen where the Kapoors had put all of the food they brought us before quickly making their escape.

“Rice and naan would be appreciated. Did my parents bring samosas? If they did I’ll have one of those too,” Pia replied.

“Coming right up.”

We all (excluding Pia who was examining her nails because she decided it was a good idea to get a manicure the day before she moved in to her apartment) watched over the counter top separating the kitchen and the living room as Cole carefully loaded everything Pia asked for onto a plate and what he wanted as well.  As Cole came around the counter with two plates of food, Astrid and Dom made a whip sound at the same time, but—after the numerous times at least one of us has done this to Cole over the past few years—they barely earned a glance from him. Out of our group of seven, Cole is definitely the push-over, but when it comes to Pia that trait is definitely pushed to the extreme.

Cole put his and Pia’s food down on the coffee table Astrid brought when she moved in a couple days ago and I went to the kitchen to get my own food just as Reese came up with the last two chairs.

“Are we taking a break?” He asked and sat down in one of the chairs.

“Nope we’re done,”Astrid replied, not even looking up from her tub of food.

“Well it must be because of how much you helped, Astrid,” Reese commented sarcastically as he stood up again and made his way over to me in the kitchen. “What a team player.”

“Slow your roll, my little theater nerd,” Astrid looked up and squinted at him, following his path across the room with her fork. “Dom already tried to pull that shit and I can’t fit both of you up my ass.”

“Don’t have a lot of faith in yourself then, do you?” Reese joked.

“Hardy-har-har,” Astrid deadpanned. “I’ll have you know—”

“I don’t want to know this,” Cole piped in because he’s both the pushover and the sweet, innocent cherub of the group. He just wants to study rocks and pine over Pia from afar.

“I’ll have you know,” Astrid repeated without sparing Cole a glance. “I have it on good authority that I have an excellent ass—a direct quote from one Jason Graham: ‘that was the best anal I’ve ever had.’”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to know that either,” I commented and scrunched up my nose in disgust as I came back into the room with my food and joined Cole and Pia on the couch.

“Too bad neither of us like your genitals,” Dom said. “Right, Reese?”

“Correct, Dominic.”

“An ass is an ass is an ass is an ass,” Astrid said dramatically.

“You know, I love you Astrid, but I don’t actually want to hear about your ass while I’m eating dinner,” Cole said and Pia snorted in response.

“Only while you’re eating dinner?” She laughed. “Maybe you should live with her instead of me.”

“No, I’m fine with boys plus Rose,” he replied.

“Speaking of boys plus Rose,” Reese interrupted and glanced between Dom and Cole. “Rose gets back tomorrow and the semester starts the next day and her reign of fun-sucking will begin so we have to have a party tonight.’’

“I don’t think Rose would appreciate knowing you called her a fun-sucker,” I pointed out.

“Teddy,” Reese looked over at me with his hand to his chest. “You know I love our dearest, sweet Rose, but do you know how many parties we could’ve had last year if she didn’t have to study?”

“It’s true,” Dom piped in. “There were at least six parties that should’ve been.”

“At least,” Reese repeated for emphasis. “We have to have one to make up for all of the lost parties last year. We owe it to ourselves—”

“To the UCLA students,” Cole interrupted.

“Dare I say, the entire world,” Reese finished and I knew they had rehearsed this speech. Cole may be a geo major, but Reese was theater enough for the two of them.

“Stop being so dramatic, Reese,” Astrid rolled her eyes. “It’s just a party.”

“Just a party,” Reese gasped dramatically. “We bought a banner, Astrid. A banner.”

“It says ‘Happy Retirement’ on it,” Cole added.

“Okay that’s cute—dumb, but cute,” I said. “I’m in.”

“I don’t know why y’all are making such a big deal. It’s not like any of us wouldn’t go,” Pia said. “You literally could’ve just said we’re having a party tonight. None of us are going to argue with that.”

“Fine,” Reese huffed. “We’re having a party tonight and you’re all coming.”

“See? Simple.” Pia shrugged. “Now let’s finish this food quickly and get alcohol because I refuse to take room temperature shots.”

***

Pia and I were splitting a handle of UV Blue and I felt like we were back in freshman year—which was exactly what Reese had intended.

Reese had decided that, in honor of our last first party of the school year, we should all drink the alcohol that defined our freshman year. I thought it was adorable and reminiscent until Reese said mine was definitely UV Blue because I drank it the night that I sucked Reese’s freshman year roommate’s dick then vomited off of their 4th story balcony.

Then it wasn’t cute anymore.

But then I had six shots and we started talking about how that was when Reese and I became friends and how our whole group followed shortly after, which meant my dick sucking and vomiting story was a key moment in the making of our friend group. And then it was cute again.

“You know, I’m so glad we did this,” I said, mid-group hug in the middle of Rose’s empty room. Since she couldn’t be here tonight we decided it was only right to pregame in her room.

“You doubted me, Theodore Roosevelt, but I’m always right. Y’know, I should’ve been president instead of you,” Reese replied and I knew he was getting drunk because he was breaking out the dead president jokes.

“Reese, you would be a terrible president,” Dom said. “Actually, I’m pretty sure we’d all be terrible.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Reese stepped back from our group hug to go grab another shot.

“Maybe you should slow down, babe,” Astrid said as she took the shot glass from him. “You took one like two seconds ago, maybe wait like five minutes?”

“Yeah, Niall and two of his friends are coming and they should be here soon. You could take it when they get here as a welcome to our home shot,” Dom added in, looking up from his phone.

I’d met Niall a few times through Dom because they’re both film majors and he was nice enough. He was Irish and I could barely understand him sober, let alone drunk, but everything that I could understand was always nice.

“That sounds good. I’m such a good host,” Reese said mostly to himself.

Despite his insistence that he’d wait until Niall & Co. got here—because that’s what a good host would do and he was ‘practically a ninteen-fucking-fifties housewife level host,’ Astrid kept his shot glass because Reese had a habit of sneaking shots. Which is funny when we laugh about it the next day, but not funny when you have to leave the person you’ve had your eyes on the whole night and are finally hooking up with to rub Reese’s back while he pukes. It’s a little ridiculous the number of times that’s happened to one of us.

“Which roommates?” Cole asked.

“Liam and Harry, I think?” Dom replied. “He was going to bring some girl he was seeing, but I don’t think she could make it.”

“Good. I don’t want any competition,” Reese said.

“There’s no competition, Reese,” Astrid said. “Niall’s straight.”

“So is spaghetti until it gets wet,” Reese replied easily and wiggled his eyebrows because he’s dumb.

“Who’s Harry?” I asked to change the subject.

I definitely knew Liam—a little too well because Pia doesn’t understand what TMI means—but I didn’t think I’d ever heard of Harry before.

“He lived with Niall in the fall last year while you were abroad and then went abroad when you came back in the spring so you probably haven’t met him,” Dom explained. “He’s cool though, you’ll like him.”

“You don’t have to suck his dick and vomit off the balcony again though, we’re all already friends,” Reese said because he’s probably the biggest shit I know. “Also I don’t think our landlord would appreciate someone vomiting off the balcony.”

“Gee thanks for the advice,” I deadpanned. “I’ll try but there’s no promises.”

“That’s all I ask,” Reese shrugged with a smirk on his face.

“They’re downstairs, I’m going to buzz them in,” Dom said, looking up from his phone again.

“Astrid!” Reese called even though she was only a few feet away. “Make the welcome shots. I’ve got to be ready to serve my guests.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that, right?” Astrid asked.

“You’re just jealous that I’m a better host then you,” Reese replied.

“It’s not even my house, Reese,” she said. “I’m not the host.”

“You’re both dumb to me,” Pia said and sipped a glass of wine because apparently she’d given up on our bottle of UV and gotten wine at some point. But I was six shots in so those details were lost on me.

“Hey! What did I do? I’m your roommate, you’re supposed to be nice to me!” Astrid complained.

“And I’m your favorite, you should be even nicer to me,” Reese added in.

“Her favorite?” Astrid turned to look at Reese. “That’s such a lie—I’m her favorite over you.”

“This is why I think you’re both dumb,” Pia said. “And I’m blatantly my own favorite.”

“Honey, we’re ho-ome,” a familiar Irish voice called, announcing Niall & Co.’s arrival and putting an end to Astrid and Reese’s bickering—at least for a little while.

“My guests!” Reese exclaimed excitedly as they appeared in Rose’s doorway. “Come take a shot with me!”

“What do you have?” Liam asked.

“Not even going to say hi then, Liam? Really?” Pia asked.

“Sorry P,” Liam laughed and hugged her. “How’re you then?”

“Good,” she shrugged and pushed him away playfully. “That’s all I needed. Now go get your alcohol.”

As soon as Liam replied with a flirty laugh and some dumb response, I found myself tuning out. I absolutely love Pia, but listening to her flirt with anyone—which meant flirting with them and anyone else with a dick so they knew they’d have to work for it—didn’t interest me in the slightest. Especially knowing that I’d have to spend at least an hour in a post-hookup debriefing with Pia tomorrow and then another hour listening to Cole complain about Pia hooking up with someone while pretending it’s not just because he’s completely in love with her.      

“Hi,” an unfamiliar voice said and suddenly some boy I’d never seen before was standing in front of me. “I’m Harry, I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I don’t think we have. I’m Teddy,” I replied and shook his outstretched hand.

I took a second to look him over quickly without being too obvious—even though I probably was because there’s no discreet way to check someone out when they’re right in front of you. But he smirked and looked me over a second later so I assumed it was cool that I did it. And I’m glad I did because he was much more attractive than any of the guys I’d been around this summer. His jeans were a bit tight and would probably be a pain to take off—okay, slow down there, Teddy.

“We definitely haven’t met. I would’ve remembered you,” he said and the amount of vodka I’d had really hadn’t prepared me for this.

“Madame President,” Reese called. “Stop distracting my guests. I’m trying to welcome them into my home.”

“Madame President?” Harry quirked an eyebrow at me.

“It’s a long story,” I replied.

“Well then, I guess I’ll have to find you later so you can tell it to me,” Harry smirked and, even though I’d spent most of my time with my dad and dogs (and sub-par men, but they really aren’t important at this moment in time) this summer, I knew he was definitely flirting with me.

At least I’m pretty sure he was.

“I guess you will,” I smirked back in what could be a flirtatious manner, but could’ve also looked really fucking weird.

“Harry, stop flirting and come drink with me.”

So I guess he was flirting.

***

“Wait so you and your brother and two of your friends were all named after ex-presidents?” Harry asked and took the joint we’d been passing between the two of us for the last few minutes.

He’d found me in the kitchen stealing Reese’s Hot Cheetos from the cabinet about ten minutes ago and wasted no time reminding me that I still had a story to tell him. In the two hours since he’d gotten here, pretty much every other senior that I knew (and a lot of whom I didn’t know) had crammed into Rose and the boys’ apartment, making it a lot hotter and louder than before. Which prompted me to suggest we go outside. Which then prompted Harry to take the joint out of his pocket so we could smoke it while I told him my entire life story.

Or at least the interesting part—which revolved around being named after a dead president.

“Yep,” I nodded. “Pregnant women are weird and very hormonal.”

“I just don’t understand how three women, all with the same last names as ex-presidents, ended up in the same prenatal yoga class.”

“Divine intervention,” I deadpanned.

“You think?” Harry asked in awe and I wasn’t sure if he was an idiot or just high. “Like you were chosen or something?”

“What the fuck?” I laughed. “Chosen?”

“Wow, I’m definitely higher than I thought I was,” he giggled.

“I think I’ll have to agree with you there,” I nodded. “Pass me the joint.”

He held out the joint for me and I took it from him, our hands brushing as I grabbed it.

“Y’know,” he said, looking up from our hands to see me taking a drag. “If this was a RomCom that would’ve been a pretty big moment there.”

“What?” I laughed.

“We had an adorable bonding moment of you telling me the origin of your name. Then I said something dumb, but hopelessly endearing,” he lifted one side of his mouth when he said that and he probably thought he was being cute. He was right. “Which made us both laugh. And then our fingers brushed,” he explained.

“Well then,” I said and took a second drag because I didn’t know what else to do.

“But if this was a proper RomCom—I assume we’re going for genre accuracy, correct?”

“I’d be upset if we weren’t,” I confirmed.

“Then this would be the part where I take your hand,” he took my hand. “And—”

“Have either of you seen Pia?” Cole asked and leaned his body out the doorway, holding it with one hand.

“Not for awhile,” I frowned. “She’s probably around here somewhere. Have you checked Reese’s room? He always makes at least one of us shit talk with him at some point.”

“Yeah he’s got Astrid with him, but no Pia,” Cole said because he’d probably spent the last twenty minutes wandering around the party looking for her.

“She might be with Liam,” Harry interjected and looked at me. “I was with him when he was getting them both drinks when I saw you.”

“Cool,” Cole replied shortly and turned around to leave. I could tell he didn’t think it was cool at all, but he was the idiot who refused to tell her how he felt so I didn’t feel anything sympathy. “I’ll see if I can find them.”

“Oh wait,” Harry said, looking down at his phone, and Cole paused. “Liam texted me like 5 minutes ago. He left with Pia and just wanted Ni and I to know so we wouldn’t look for him.”

“Oh,” Cole said. “That was thoughtful of him. I’ll see you two later.”

Cole turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

“I should go check on him,” I said because even though I said I had no sympathy for Cole, I definitely did. Because I knew first hand how much finding out the person you like just left to hook up with someone else sucks. “He…um…he…”

“Likes Pia?” Harry finished for me. “It’s pretty obvious—does Pia know?”

“No, she’s pretty much the only one who doesn’t,” I said. “Which means moments like this aren’t too uncommon.”

“You’re a good friend,” Harry said. “And I admire that—even if it’s stealing you away from me.”

“You’re a shameless flirt, you know that right?” I commented because the alcohol and the weed (and the compliments) were making me a lot more confident.

“What’s the shame in flirting?” He threw back with a smile and I laughed before turning around to leave.

“Oh, Teddy?” He said and I turned around. He kept eye contact with me and took my hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it. He pulled back and smiled in a way that momentarily made me rethink leaving to go talk to Cole. “Couldn’t let you leave without finishing our RomCom moment. What a cliffhanger that would be?”

[remembermemorablememories]

Sunday, March 4, 2018

post #55

main points:

- grandpa passport stuff

- very late brunch

- reminiscing through old files

- fortnite 

- got a haircut

today i:

- woke up around 11am, and then lazed around in bed for like an hour until 12pm. then i was planning to get brunch with my sister but my dad asked me to help him get a passport photo of my grandpa working. the site he was using kept rejecting it because of various reasons (not 100% consistent background, face too dark, etc). eventually we got it pass after tweaking it in photoshop

- finally left to go get brunch with my sis at 1pm. i was absolutely starving. we went to a new(?) place nearby that had eggs benedict and such. i’ve never heard of it but we wanted to try it. it turns out there was a 35 minute wait, so we decided to go to IHOP. but then at IHOP we were told it was a 25 minute wait. so we were like might as well go back and try that new place. so we called ahead for a 2pm reservation.

we got seated around 2:15pm and ate until like 3pm. it was so so good

waffles, eggs, a skillet thing, all for $34. not too shabby

- got back around like 3:30pm, tried to play fortnite with brian but it didn’t work because my internet connection was bad. moved the PC temporarily to my room next to the wireless router with better luck. it was giving me issues cause i was also on the phone with brian so the wifi signals must’ve made it difficult to connect. 

- we played for a bit then i took my sister to hang out with her friend at starbucks in dtown. 

- chatted with my mum for a bit about her thoughts with regards to a comment about buying a new car/my sis

- came back and started looking through some old video files on the PC. i haven’t used it since like 2012, so there were a lot of old photos and videos from like 9th/10th grade. it was weird but cool seeing all of those things. also kind of cringy

- ate dinner with me mum and dad, we ate the leftovers from yesterday’s party

- started playing fortnite at around 7:30pm with josh and bryan. 

- got a haircut around 8pm from me dad

- took a long shower and cleaned up my hair

- played fortnite with bryan josh and trevor (he had to leave around 11pm ish). they were pretty new to the game but we still had some good rounds. my sister also played 2 games and in the second one she managed to get to top 10 just by hiding and running (josh and bryan died)

we also played the gold mode near the end, getting to second place once and then getting rekt in a 2v4. that’s about it

it’s 2:57am as i finish this post. time to sleep

good night

[opepin]

august: week one

july31: lol this morning. i woke up at like 7 am or something and kevin decided to wake up at 9 am or 10 am? i woke up, brushed, did whatever i could with my 2g data connection (btw, i couldn’t receive texts or anything but i got my data to work after changing the apn -- it was frustrating dealing with that the first day we got here), and i curled my hair for fun lol. then i watched ‘somm’ until kevin got up. i was hangry by then so he got ready and we went to the bakery again. we overshot how much we were going to eat. i also accidentally got a marzipan pastry...i hate marzipan... it looked like soft bread coated with cinnamon sugar D: we also got their infamous strawberry creme chocolate tart. it was good, but too much. kevin got a cinnamon strudel, a lemon tart, and a thai curry baguette because he was craving the baguettes since last night. :P we went back to the airbnb because i was starting to feel nauseous... we stayed there for like an hour so i could recover. i took tums and gasx and laid in bed massaging my stomach. i manned up and felt a bit better so we walked to glyptoteket, the fine arts museum, only to find out it was closed. T_T i planned it for yesterday so when we slept all day on the first day, our schedule got screwed up :( it also happened to pour on our way there -__-” right next to it was tivoli, the amusement park, but we decided not to go because of the rain and we just didn’t feel like it at this point. we decided to forge on and go to rosenborg castle to see the garden and/or go to the port for a boat ride.

i got upset at these turn of events and then some nasty old guys in a van kept looking at me like a piece of meat and kevin didn’t shield me or anything so i got frustrated at him. my legs were also SO SO SO itchy because my leggings were drying from the rain and it made my legs cold and my skin and body did not like it one bit. so we walked upset and in silence. we talked for a bit and then stopped. we decided to sit on the boat ride because of my legs and everything was fine after that. i bought kevin a hot dog and we got two bottles of water for $14...rip off LOL. the hot dogs here have a thicker casing but i think i like it. they also look hella phallic...which is weird haha. the sun came out again and it got real nice so the boat ride was a perfect choice. there was a lot of interesting architecture to see. kevin got hungry after so we walked over to the street food vendor area across the bridge. we got duck fat fries and the highlight of that was the creme fraiche dipping sauce. then we went inside to find the rest of the vendors. it was very much like what you would find in america (not so much like outside carts). oh, kevin also bought a smoothie from one of the outside carts and the guy just gave him one that was sitting there LOL. he was so put off by that. we also got a snow cone, which turned out to be a drink with a ton of ice in it LOLOLOL. kevin stopped picking what to eat after that.

we ended up getting a barbecue pulled pork burger with curly fries. mmm. kevin made a good point to say that if this was the best thing we ate here so far, then copenhagen isn’t a good place to get food because america does barbecue even better, which is pretty true of what we experienced. that burger was hella good. after that, kevin wanted to go back and rest so we walked back and did just that. i think i ended up falling asleep for 30 minutes to an hour again and then we headed out to the church right behind our airbnb with one of the best views of copenhagen. it didn’t strike me that we were going to be outside above the ground on a really steep staircase until we were actually doing it. kevin was nervous right when we got in line and i didn’t get it LOL. well, we walked up some wooden steps and then we reached the metal steps outside and kevin was freaking out on the inside. he had to let people go in front of us LOLOL. we made it to the top and i took pictures. i wasn’t as scared as kevin but the winds didn’t help either. so we took pictures quickly and took our time going down. it was a great experience together. <3 haha.

we walked to illum, a department store, to see if i could nab some danish fashion styles before leaving tomorrow. everything is so nice and minimalistic but sooooo expensive. i left without getting anything. we didn’t go to the rosenborg castle or the aquarium or the round tower again like we planned initially, but we didn’t mind. from shopping, we went straight to goomi and had rice for the first time in a few days. we’re rice addicts. i got three cup chicken and kevin got some pork dish. we both had two bowls of rice (they were super tiny bowls). we were really happy after that meal. we called it a day after and then went back to the airbnb, packed, and went to sleep sort of early. we had a somewhat early flight tomorrow. copenhagen was overall okay for us. we’re not in love with it. the colorful houses, the quaint aesthetic of the area, and the fact that it is pretty small made it a nice place to stay for 2-3 days. i think we hit most of the tourist spots and got to walk around most of copenhagen. we were ready to head to stockholm though.

01: we handled airport things way better this time. we decided not to go to the bakery for food and get food at the airport. there were a lot more people than i had anticipated but we got there pretty early. we checked in our bags, went through security, and then got a nice breakfast place that consisted of hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and bacon. mmm. i got a green tea latte with soy milk because they did not have coconut milk at this starbucks. then we headed to our gate and abused the wifi LOL. i was so happy to have fast internet. i caught up on youtube videos and etc. so our flight kept getting delayed for some reason... but kevin and i were super chill and didn’t mind. i think we finally boarded at like 12 pm or something only to get moved out of the plane because there were technical errors. some people were really pissed because they were flying back home to the states. then some really nice guy told me that we will get compensated around 300 euros for the delay :O our flight got pushed from 10 am to 4 pm or something like that. so then kevin and i just squatted at the airport. we also got like $20 food vouchers and we found a yo sushi in the airport so we ate there! the fried rice at yo sushi is always bomb. we tried a mango crab roll that was delicious too. we got full pretty quickly.

it was nice being at the airport because they had a lot of shopping areas and i could keep on the search for some danish fashion items. so every now and then, kevin and i would walk to the stores and look. i ended up buying a cup of black tea while waiting and then i went back to get a tin of it. i looked at some clothes from noa noa, but was turned off by how many older women were looking at the sale rack with me T__T is my fashion that dated? LOL. we also surprisingly got chocolate-coated licorice because it was not bad??? haha. we now have a kind-of inside joke about this burberry coat we saw at illum. it looked so cool like an anime character would wear it with his dual swords and etc. it was a guy’s jacket so i showed kevin and he was really interested until we realized we were in burberry and he looked at the $1000 price tag. LULZ. we found a burberry here but the jacket was not there. :P

eventually, we boarded the flight with no problems and then i started watching the other ‘somm’ documentary i downloaded. i finished the first one, which was really interesting because it was about becoming a master sommelier and this one was the process of making wine. kevin ko’d on the flight. when we finally arrived in stockholm, we hit some snags in paying too much for an arlanda express ticket and finding the security box in central station containing our airbnb keys. we made it through and then walked 15 minutes to the apartment. this time, our airbnb was a private apartment and it had wifi. on the walk there, we noticed a lot of thai and japanese restaurants. the weather was beautiful -- unfortunate because we spent the entire day at the airport. the airbnb we stayed at is BEAUTIFUL. her apartment is decorated so nicely T__T the fridge blended in with the cabinets, she had a ton of candles, and the place was just nice and homey with a modern vibe. she also bought us milk, eggs, and bread and we could use her pantry and kitchen.

we unpacked and i let kevin pick a restaurant. he went on yelp and found this restaurant not too far of a walk called, ‘gro.’ so we walked there and noticed it was really tiny and we awkwardly stood by the door to see if we could get seated. we did eventually and then we looked at the menu and i found out that this place had two 4-course menus: one for meat eaters and one for vegetarians that cost $60 each... awks... i got mad at kevin for a bit for putting us in this situation but i calmed down and when he realized what i did, we figured it out. we ended up splitting the meat eater menu after asking and then declined wine. we both felt so ashamed and disrespectful. i looked up the yelp and kevin had only read one of them saying it was like $30-40 for a meal... lol that was a lie. i dug deeper and read that they handpick their wine so we ended up getting two glasses of wine. lol, we just felt so bad and out of place but we were trying to make the most of it. what’s even worse is that they gave us basically full sized portions of everything Dx we only shared one dish that was probably supposed to be smaller. ugh. they were being waay too nice to us and we felt even worse for that haha...

so, we had vegetable spaghetti (x2), cod stomach (x1), rooster (x1), rhubarb sorbet with licorice sprinkled on top (x2), and sorbet (x2). for the price of $60, that was way too much in our opinion because we were splitting it. the food was great but we weren’t looking for expensive food in the first place lol. oh, the real kicker is that the two chefs along with the server was giving us the food and explaining what it is. we were a few feet away from the kitchen and the chefs making the food to order x__x; one of them also mentioned that today was their first day of summer service so their english was a bit rusty. what. what did we get ourselves into LOL. we paid 75% of what two meals were supposed to be and then walked back to the airbnb. what a funny experience. kevin streamed the dota tournament for the rest of the night, showered with the super nice waterfall shower head, and then went to sleep at like 1 am?

02: we woke up and kevin made scrambled eggs with toast and butter for breakfast. the bread she got us toasted up so nicely. i love that bread. her toaster and tea kettle were so retro but did their jobs perfectly. i love that toaster. anyway, we ate and then walked over to stockholm’s city hall :) the moment we saw the skyline, we fell in love with stockholm. the weather was pretty nice too. stockholm is so beautiful with water, greenery, castles, and modern architecture everywhere. it’s perfect. walking past the arches of city hall to the lawn area took my breath away. it was gorgeous. we took lots of pictures and then kevin got a snow globe from the gift shop. i was feeling bleh because kevin is really bad at taking pictures so i never really ask because i have really high expectations for pictures of myself LOL. so he took pictures of me and i was disappointed about it, but also the fact that i don’t know how to pose for pictures anymore and i think i look pretty bad when i’m not the one taking the picture of myself / selfies. idk. sigh. i apologized to him and explained to him and he said he’ll try better and i said that i’ll try to be more understanding.

after city hall, we walked to the royal palace. as we were walking, we were trying to compare stockholm to a city in the states. i think we finally came to agreement that it’s a cleaner san francisco, which is probably why i love it so much. there are a bunch of inclines everywhere but the city is still larger than sf. there’s so much to see and so many directions to walk in ahha. well, we found out that there were 4 museums inside the palace itself and we started with the treasury and saw some real crowns, orbs, and scepters. i bought a small crown pin for my book bag. then we saw the royal apartments and stopped by the lunch plaza for a slice of lemon cheesecake and the most authentic freshly squeezed orange juice i’ve ever had in my life. then i walked around trying to find the bathroom and then kevin and i walked through the tre kronor museum (not that interesting -- history and architecture of the old building vs new) and also stopped by the antiquities section. after that, we looped back to the gift shop and spent a good amount of time there. i got some crown money clips as souvenirs and then we headed into old town!

there were so many cute small shops, artist galleries, and cafes. there were a lot of narrow cobblestoned walkways and colorful houses. i knew we made it to stortorget when we saw a man playing the piano beautifully and a ton of seats available to sit and listen to him. stortorget is the middle of old town where there is always something happening. :) we walked a bit more, took more pictures, and then kevin was getting hungry so we walked all the way to a restaurant called, ‘meatballs for the people.’ we got sat at the bar right away and then got some lingonberry juice and water. mmmm, the juice was so refreshing and delicious. it’s sweeter than cranberry juice but reminds me a lot of it. we both ordered deluxe swedish meatballs. i got pork and beef and kevin got deer meat. the deer meat had a lot of texture to it that i liked. this meal was flipping delicious. this was my favorite meal in stockholm. we got the buttery mashed potatoes and actual lingonberries. i was stuffed. kevin kept joking that we should eat there again for dinner...

we ended the day by going to monteliusvagen, the best place to get a view of the entire city. it was quite a walk but stockholm is beautiful so we didn’t mind at all. there was this one rain cloud that kept following us though? LOL it was really funny. we outran it at one point and it kept coming back to us... when it did, it just annoyingly drizzled instead of actually raining. xD we took some twists and turns and went up some hills but when we got there, it was totally worth it. we called it a day after because we wanted to go grocery shopping. we stopped at ‘cheesecake palace’ because kevin needed to use the bathroom. he got a slice of key lime cheesecake while i went and peed. i needed to pee first but kevin went ahead and went first so i was a bit upset at him x__x but we figured it out as we got to the bus stop. it started to rain...finally... and then we went into the grocery store, coop. we were confused because we only saw packaged goods like a walgreens... so we bought some toothpaste and i got disposable razors and walked back to the apartment. kevin was confused so he looked the store up on yelp and it was definitely a grocery store. so we rested for a bit and then went back and there was definitely a grocery store, except it was downstairs and all of the sale pots and plants blocked our view of the escalator... we bought some red and yellow peppers, potatoes (i kept saying tomatoes LOL), tomatoes, and once we decoded the labels, chicken thighs. i bought some strawberry cheesecake oreos, a marabou oreo chocolate bar, and some polly’s chocolate pieces. we also got sour cream and onion waffle chips.

the self-checkout system here is wonderful. you have a machine to weigh and label your produce. you just scan the stuff, and then you scan the receipt to exit if you used self-check out. it’s so high tech! anyway, i just started snacking like crazy when we got back. i felt bad but i was like meh at the same time. kevin watched some dota games, i was online watching videos, going on snapchat and instagram too. kevin decided to cook really late so we split one chicken thigh (they were tiny) and then went to sleep at like 1 or 2 am.

03: i think we left the house at 12 pm after eating tomatoes and eggs with toast and butter. i love this breakfast lol. we walked to the stockholm public library; the library was kind of underwhelmingly small, but it had the cool circular bookshelf alignment going on. then we walked over to the spelmuseum, the one museum here that i really wanted to go to! the spelmuseum is a gaming museum so i was so excited to bring kevin here. it’s small and tucked away, but when you enter, there is a projection on the wall of space invaders that you can play along with some images of the creators. they display all of the old gaming devices and had a few games to play. we played pacman, metal slug, the boxing game, street fighter, and this tennis game. lol i beat kevin in the tennis game so badly at first but then he beat me in the next one because i kept holding the left direction button for some reason ahahah. we tried playing breath of the wild but kept killing ourselves from falling and then we played this really fun two player game similar to metal slug, but i don’t remember what it was called... kevin played super mario 64 and they also had my warioware game to play and pokemon sun! we spent like 2-3 hours there ofc. kevin had a lot of fun. we do wish it was bigger though. kevin got a cute af yoshi mug there and we got a pixel art kit of snorlax too. jkdfnskd fave museum in stockholm. kevin went to use the washroom so i played a ton of space invaders while waiting. i was so close to beating the high score but i kept losing :( merp merp.

we walked to birger jarl’s passage, which was pretty close by. it was a pretty short passage lol but it was fancy af. it’s a passage that leads to all of the name brand stores like gucci, louis vuitton, etc. but the whole street is shopping central. we stopped by & other stories to see if they had the suede kitten heel pump ingrid recently showed on her youtube channel. kitten heels are definitely something i will wear from now on due to my feet. they didn’t have it but i shopped around and decided not to get anything because the whole tax refund process is too difficult and all the stuff was pretty expensive. plus, i could buy online and ship to the states. we stopped by a chain called, ‘joe and the juice’ to get a bite to eat. we’ve seen this chain all over copenhagen and stockholm and i regret that we didn’t find it sooner?! their juices are delicious and so are their sandwiches. we got the immunity and sex me up juice and two of the joe’s sandwiches. their sandwiches are on harder and thinner pieces of bread but it’s so good. i’m totally in love with this chain and there’s only one in new york in the states. lol. anyway, we walked over to the bus stop to get to skansen open air zoo~

it was a short and nice bus ride. we got there at around 4 pm so we were just in time to see a few of the old town houses. we saw a glassmaker, furniture maker, baker, and etc. it was just ok. maybe it’s livelier when it’s not closing time? after walking around the village (workers here show how swedish people lived 100 years ago so it’s like a small town environment), we went straight to the zoo. we saw elk, brown bears (!!!), reindeer, a really fat seal (LOL), wolves (!!!), and a wolverine (didn’t know these existed). we didn’t pay for the aquarium / amphibians so after that, we went to the amusement park area where there were 2 different drops and one seat twirler that moved up into the sky the highest (higher than the drop). kevin and i weren’t about it so we left through the turnstiles; this is where i got injured lol. it was a very wide turnstile so i thought kevin would wait for me to come in and then push, but i thought wrong and so my arm got squished and so did my boob. mmm, my arm is now bruised lol. kevin was really apologetic though x_x; we went into the museum shop and didn’t find anything so we took a couple buses to get back to the apartment. we would come back to see king’s garden and strandvagen later in the day.

we got back right in time for dinner. kevin reheated the chicken and made peppers with roasted potatoes. it was a delicious home-cooked meal :) i think we really needed a break from buying food. we ended up not going out. i wasn’t heart broken or anything though because we can always come back! also, the king’s garden is super large and just a meeting place / park and strandvagen is a street with a bunch of fancy houses overlooking the water. so, i didn’t mind. i think my stomach also got super bloated so staying in was the best option. i was full and happy and we had wifi. again, we went to sleep at like 1 or 2 am.

04: today was the final full day we had in stockholm and we took it super easy. lol i think we left the apartment at 1 pm or something to hop on the train to get to telefonplan. yes, that is an area in stockholm... we walked over to the climbing gym, klattercentret, that nluu told kevin about and went in. there was a nice small vegan cafe there and a ton of seating. i spent some time taking pictures of kevin and then i just chilled on my phone or kevin’s laptop. the gym area was filled with intimidating people so i just chilled out while kevin climbed. he said the closer you got to the rocks, the more it smelled like feet LOL. the air away from the rocks didn’t stink at all though. there were a ton of babies here tooo~ so cute. i got the cheapest tea here for 20 sek. kevin got the guys some souvenirs from here after climbing. then we took the train home. we could have gone to skyview, but after reading more reviews and stuff, it didn’t seem worth it. people said the view from the place we went on the first day had a better view. it is the world’s largest spherical place though... so maybe we’ll see it when we come back (: haha.

this is the part when kevin and i both doze off on the bus and we miss our stop so we have to take a bus back lol. the signage to transfer buses is not very clear here... we had to look for a connecting bus and only found it when we saw the bus stop at the location so we missed the first one. oh wells. haha. it’s a good thing the buses are always on time here and the wait for them is never long. kevin showered and i called (i did pay 20 cents for 1 minute) to make sure this thai massage place had openings today. we walked on over to ‘samruai thai massage’ (it was super close by) and got a massage right away. lol these ladies saw my boobs and massaged super closely to my vagina, but they were nice and didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. this massage overall was bomb. she massaged my arms like they have never been massaged before. i didn’t even know i had tiny tiny muscles like that all over my body. my neck has been really tight this whole trip so sometimes i would get headaches from looking at my phone or ipad so this helped a lot. we left very refreshed, relaxed, and hungry.

i found a nearby japanese place called, ‘matsu’ and their prices were cheaper than most restaurants here. kevin and i thought we were gonna get small af portions so we ordered a dragon roll, gyoza, yakiniku, and yakisoba. lol, when our yakiniku and yakisoba came out, we knew we over-ordered. LOL. it was so delicious though. we just sucked up all the delicious rice / noodles and beef. then our dragon roll came, and these were the biggest rolls i have ever seen in my life. we devoured all of that first and then came the gyoza -- there were 10 of them. they must have thought we were fat asses. we managed to finish the gyoza, roll, and more than half of each entree. then we took it home and kevin finished his yakisoba. i tried finishing my yakiniku but ended up throwing it away in the morning. our stomaches were not happy after stuffing ourselves too much. i spent the rest of the night gassy, bloated, and a bit nauseous tbh. i ate waaay too much. we also slept at like 1 am, which was waaay too late for our flight tomorrow morning at 8 am.

05: needless to say, we were dead in the morning. we packed everything up last night and made sure we didn’t leave anything in the morning. we woke up at 5:30 am... kevin called an uber because the bus would have taken another 10 minutes to come, and when the guy dropped us off, he laughed at kevin for closing the door in my face LOL. he joked that kevin wasn’t awake yet in swedish / poor english. :P we hopped onto the arlanda express only to sit with talkative af people -__-” we were tired and not having it. we were thankful when we got to the airport stop. there was a bit of a wait to check in and everything but we made it and stopped by ‘joe & the juice’ right away. kevin got immunity and we both got sandwiches. i wanted their granola / acai bowl but they were out. :( after eating, we used the bathroom and then boarded right away. i freaked out a bit because we were supposed to start boarding at 7:30 am but kevin was still in the bathroom, i think. he apparently had no wifi in the bathroom so i didn’t know where he was. luckily, he got out right after and boarding didn’t start yet. 

we got on the flight and we just tried sleeping the entire 3-hour flight. i think we managed to get in a good 2 hours at least. we got to iceland and then really needed to pee. kevin got pulled into a random security check LOL so i waited at first and then i had to go so i went downstairs to use the bathroom and met him near the gate. kevin has taken a liking to hot dogs so he got one for second breakfast, i got an english breakfast bowl from ‘mathus’, and we got a chicken baguette for the flight. again, the lines were crazy and we had to board via the tarmac so the process was a bit slow. kevin ate his hot dog in line and we finished the english breakfast bowl together. i really like the beans! there were also sausages, an egg, and bacon in there too. mmm, it was very filling. we both ko’d at the beginning of the flight for like 30 minutes and then kevin started watching ‘skyfall 007′ and i found a romantic movie called, ‘flipped.’ i’m glad i watched it because it was a pretty great movie. i really enjoyed it. it’s about a girl who falls in love with a kid who moved into her neighborhood in 2nd grade and what happens when she ‘flips’ and doesn’t like him anymore. it was a really cute and heartfelt movie. there’s a lot more than cliche love to this movie.

kevin basically watched his movie the entirety of the flight and said it wasn’t worth it LOL. he started playing pokemon while watching too. i watched ‘slumdog millionaire’ next. i actually have not seen the movie until now. i think it was pretty intense and great but the ending kind of cheapened the story. it didn’t really build up to anything. by that time, we had 20 minutes to land. my stomach wasn’t feeling so great after such a long flight and beans, but we made it. it was my first time going through customs and filling out the form before landing too. it was an easy process to go through because we didn’t bring in any fresh produce and stuff. we finally got our luggage and waited for the silver line~ the t took forever but we finally got home at like 2:30 pm, ordered burgers from kkatie’s burgers, showered, and picked up our food. it was pretty humid in boston and a bit rainy. i guess we bring the rain everywhere we go ;( after stuffing ourselves with fries and burgers, kevin drove us to spectacles where i got to pick up my glasses. it was really busy today so paul just adjusted my glasses for me and then sent me off.

we stoppped by roche bros to get fruit and then went back home to rest and unpack. i had to do some cleaning because my tea tree oil bursted in my bag :( but other than that, i just put everything in the laundry and put away our food stuff and souvenirs. i spent the rest of the evening digesting the food and looking into & other stories, uniqlo, and thredup. after seeing how everyone dressed in copenhagen and stockholm, i want to revamp my wardrobe. i also love my new glasses and how they look on me. there is no chromatic abberation and i see perfectly through them. so i have an updated accessory that fits my face and i love to wear. anyway, i purchased two pairs of wide ankle pants from uniqlo and started filling up my thredup basket. i’m not sure if i should go ahead and buy more clothes or just try to work with what i have right now. :/ hmmm. i talked with daniel for a bit and then worked on paying back kevin for travel stuff and paying students loans and documenting that in my spreadsheet. kevin and i both ko’d at around 11:30 pm because we were tired af. i can’t believe we stayed up that long tbh. i only got like 5 hours of sleep or so. my stomach wasn’t feeling so great either so i took meds and then went to sleep.

[END COPENHAGEN / STOCKHOLM VACATION ]

06: we woke up at 8 am and stayed in bed until 9 am. then we had breakfast and i started updating my tumblr. not sure if i should buy from thredup yet, but i’m still thinking about it. kevin gamed a bit after breakfast and then we meal planned around noon. it’s weird being back home to the normal routine. my stomach is feeling better but not 100% healed. we went grocery shopping and then cleaned the fridge, put away the luggage, did laundry, and i kept thinking about thredup lol. i managed to figure out with the help of friends and kevin, what to buy. i finally bought my first thredup box :) then i did some more internet errands and packed for tomorrow. kevin went to cook and i folded the clothes and then i did a 15 minute low-impact workout before eating. after digesting for a bit, i did a 20 minute low-impact workout and then went to shower. i was really tired... i was falling asleep during my workout even though it was only 10 pm. i watched some youtube videos before going to sleep at like 11:30 pm. zzzz. it was a very uneventful but well-needed rest day.

[preganziolitaly2017]

7/26/17

Well it’s been a while! For certain reasons I have not been able to write my posts for a while, but I am back! Especially because I went to Florence for the first time yesterday! It was truly magnificent. I got on the early train at seven to get to Florence by nine thirty for my ten o’clock bike tour. Although I really did not want to wake up at six, it was for the best, as I barely made it to the tour stand on time! It was a bit of a struggle (okay, a lot of a struggle) beforehand, because of course right when I got to the train station I realized I had run out of data. Thinking back to it now, it was almost comical how everything played out. At the time though, I was stressed to the point of tears. I needed wifi badly, although every time I was supposed to connect, my phone was not able to work it correctly. I needed to know two things. First, I had not downloaded the PDFs of my train tickets, and second, I needed to know how to get to the tour stand. When I arrived to the train station to get me to Florence, I had about twenty minutes to find wifi. The first thing I did was search for a train conductor so I could explain the situation and see if they would let me on the train. Thankfully, he told me the email I had with two numbers series would be enough. Problem A fixed. Problem B was much more challenging.

At first, I was guaranteed that there would be wifi in that first station. I had even used it before, so I knew that it was possible. Of course this time it said I had all the bars but failed to connect me. It was like the universe was teasing me. I would have bars, but then as soon as I tried to use any application that required the internet, it would put me back on the 3G network. My frustration grew and grew. I asked a woman if there would be wifi network on the train, and she assured me that there would be. I then relaxed, as I felt that surely the same thing wouldn’t happen to me on the train, as well. But alas, it did, so I was stuck wondering what the heck I could do to find where I needed to go. I knew the name of the place, so I figured the only thing I could do was ask a stranger either on the train or in Florence how to get there. I could do that, but the problem was my train was running late, the place apparently was fifteen minutes away, I had half an hour to get there, and we were supposed to arrive fifteen minutes early to check-in. As I sat there I started to notice the family to my left. They were speaking in English, and had MAPS! I prayed that they would have one of Florence, and they did! They were nice enough, and handed me the map and I was able to take a picture of it and see exactly where to go. I then felt extremely fortunate and sat down for the rest of the ride thinking about how lucky I am and how things always seem to work out.

LONG STORY SHORT, I arrived at the tour station (after staring up in awe at absolutely everything) right on time. Again, I was the only single person on the tour besides an English family. They all had a lot more bike experience, probably in narrow streets somewhere in England, so I was the only one who had a really hard time maneuvering the bike around the mass of people crowding around the main squares and the bumpy, cobbled stone ground. Not that I’m complaining, the tour was great, and I’m happy I got a bit of exercise, but I came close to injuring pedestrians about 12736 times. We saw the Santa Maria Novella cathedral, went to the main squares, across the main bridge, saw main churches (can you tell I’m great at remembering names?) and even stopped to have some delicious gelato! Altogether it was a really good tour and I left feeling like I knew at least a little more about Florence then I had when I arrived.

Then it was lunchtime. After going over with one of the tour guides the directions to a place he recommended, I ended up at a random place in the middle of nowhere that just looked aesthetically pleasing. It was great. The wifi connection was so strong. And the food was good, too, of course :) I had mozzarella and tomatoes (the dish I’m literally going to make every lunchtime at home), pasta, and wine. Then I decided to go back to the tour stand to see what else they had to offer. I had a discount, and I liked meeting people, so why not? Fortunately there was a cooking class available, for pizza and gelato! It sounded really fun, so I signed up. I had about an hour before I had to meet for the next activity, so I decided to see if I could check out David. Or is it The David? I’m not sure.. I had seen the “fake” one on my tour, as there are two statues of Michelangelo’s masterpiece in Florence, but everyone kept telling me to see the real one.  So I walked ten minutes and stood in line behind an English-speaking couple. Fail again, because I waited an hour and never got to see the statue, but I did really enjoy speaking to the couple in front of me from Canada! I don’t remember their names (surprise, surprise), but the couple (maybe in their 50s?) were super nice and easy to talk to and we shared stories from our travels so far, joked, and laughed. Eventually I needed to go back to the tour station to meet my group for the cooking class, so we parted and I walked the ten minutes back to the station.

My favorite thing I did in Florence would have to be the cooking class. I had so much fun making the pizza, learning about traditional gelato making, and meeting the other English-speakers in my group. For whatever reason I felt like the couple I spoke to in line gave me confidence to speak to others without really holding back, so I started out by introducing myself to the two couples at the tour station in my group. There were two two sisters in their forties, one from western Florida and one from North Carolina, and their husbands. I liked them right away and ended up being at their table for the pizza making. Again, they were saying how brave I must be which made me feel good. Hey, if I could navigate the streets of a different country without my phone, I did feel pretty invincible.. I also met two nice girls my age from Saudi Arabia. The actual pizza making was a little bit harder than I anticipated (all that kneading), but it was worth it. The pizza really did taste different than anything you could find in the States. Apparently, it’s the type of flour they use. Double 0 flour, or Durum wheat flour. Then there was a gelato demonstration, and our guide explained that the difference between gelato and ice cream is that gelato has less cream (or a larger cream to milk ratio), and less air. Because ice cream is industrialized, companies want to use as much of it as they can, and use more air to achieve that. I think that may also make it more ice-y? So we enjoyed our pizza with a bottle of wine per table (again, I am SO lucky), and finished with the gelato. At the very end, we even got a certificate of achievement! So cute. Time went by fast and before I knew it, we were done. I didn’t want to leave Florence, but had to work in the morning so knew I needed to catch the train by 6:30 at the latest. Next time I will have to explore more and finally see the real statue of David!

-Tess :)

[andy-abroad]

Travel_01

June.11-12.2017 Hello hello-- Today has been one of the longest days of my life, and not just because I am crossing a time zone! The morning started at 3am. I still hadn't booked a hostel for Mumbai yet, as I was asking around for suggestions, so I woke up early to do some research. I actually also downloaded air bnb, but couldn't verify my old account as my 703 number is currently inactive, so I had to make a new account. There weren't many listings on air bnb, or the ones that were listed were quite expensive. I decided to just look at hostel world and search there. I think I found a good hostel, and really just wanted somewhere to land. If I don't like it, I can always leave, I guess. I got ready, which involved brushing teeth, packing, and leaving my key. When I got downstairs there was a cab waiting for me. I got into the cab, got to the airport, and checked in. It was about 4:15a by the time I got to the gate, with the plane taking off at 5:30a. I bought a muffin and a water for breakfast. The muffin wasn't great, but I wasn't really in a place to be picky. At the gate, I actually sat next to a man I saw yesterday at the valley of the kings. He is a teacher from St. Louis and was doing a tour around Egypt for two weeks. We chatted a bit, which was nice, and swapped stories about our time in Egypt. In the middle of our conversation, it was announced our flight was delayed an hour. No big deal, since my flight to Kuwait didn't leave until 1:30p. 6:30 came and we were all boarded and ready to go. Behind me sat two children, one who wouldn't stop screaming and one who was shouting to talk. There was also a French woman who kept talking the entire flight. I don't know where all these people got their energy from. I kind of fell asleep, but was awake enough to get a mango juice for later. After an hour of screaming and kind of sleeping, we landed in Cairo. This is where I thought it would be easy, as connecting flights within airports are usually seamless, even if they're from domestic to international, however, this was not my case. A man directed me upstairs to go through customs. Normal. I go through customs but don't have a customs report. I leave and do it. I go back through customs. I am told I'm in the wrong terminal. The email says terminal 1. I am at terminal 3. Luckily, there's a shuttle bus. I would rather walk three miles at this point than get into another Egyptian cab. I wait for 20 minutes, constantly telling cabbies that I'm not in need of a ride and that I'm not Chinese, and then finally get into a crammed shuttle bus. It has many stops and I get off at the wrong one. Luckily I can squeeze back in. I get off at terminal one. Go through entrance security and then try to get into the ticketing area. I send all of my belongings through, only to be told that I am supposed to be in terminal 2. I get my things and I head outside. I ask the tourist police where the shuttle is. A taxi man tries to grab my arm and I rip it away from him. There's s tram that I can take, which I do. I take it to terminal 2. I go through entry security. I send all my things through again to get to ticketing, and I am told that I need to wait 20 minutes because I'm too early for my flight. I almost lose it. They also say I need a paper ticket, which I cannot get without visiting a counter, or printing out an email. I finally get let in, grab my things, and search for the ticket counter. It's no where to be seen. I try to use a kiosks, they are all not working. At this point I'm told that the Kuwait airlines counter isn't open because it's too early. It's only 3 hours before the flight. An international flight. There's nothing to do but wait, so I wait. I finally get in line to get my boarding passes. It's surprisingly complicated. I have to show my visa, and prove that I'm flying out of India before the 60 days of my visa are up. I am so thankful I got data because the wifi is just not reliable in airports and I would have been in big trouble without this information. I pick up my passes and head up to my gate. To complete tradition, I have a beer, to say I've had a beer in every country I've visited. It was really early... before 11 am, so I was super tired after it. I had a croissant and took my malaria pill. Let's hope I don't forget to take these everyday! I found my way to the gate and took a nap. I woke up to my alarm that I had set for boarding, got onto the plane, and fell back asleep. I was/am so tired! The flight was only 3 hours I think, but they gave me lunch. It was a sandwich, a really good cookie kind of thing, and some potatoes. Overall really good. It also came with milk which I was kind of exited about until I realized that it was butter milk, so a bit sour! I ate my lunch and fell back asleep until a member of the flight crew woke me up to put my tray up. Unlike my flight from Cairo, no one sat next to me (middle seat was open) and I was in the aisle, so I got some good sleep. I got to Kuwait, found some food (raising canes! Really good chicken tenders), ate, found the transition waiting area, and waited for my layover to be... well, over! The wifi wasn't working, and the shows I had downloaded onto my phone for travel through Netflix aren't available to be watched in Kuwait, so I read, napped, and played games on my phone. Not really soon, but soon enough it was time for me to try to get into the gate. The way they have their airport set up is very interesting - the gate has its own security, which only opens when it's time for a flight. It's not like Dulles where you go through security and then all the gates are just open for you. I've never gone through so much security in my life before. By the time we actually boarded, it was almost time to go. I was very far back, in the window seat, but as luck would have it, I was sitting alone! A whole three seats to sleep on. I fell asleep before we took off, like always, and was woke up about an hour later to eat dinner. I wasn't hungry, but I didn't know when I would eat next, so I made myself eat. The food was butter chicken and rice, with a pudding. It was delicious! I had a really yummy pineapple juice to go with it all. After I put my tray up, and the food was taken, I promptly fell back asleep. I didn't realize how stressful and tiring it was to be traveling so much. When I woke up, it was time to get off the plane. Since I knew I was so far back, I took my time getting ready, as there was no real point not rushing up and trying to leave. I made sure I didn't leave anything behind, gathered my things, and got off the plane. Immediately I was struck with how humid it was. It was cold in the plane and in the airports, so I was wearing my raincoat. There was no need. It trapped all my heat and made me so sticky! Once inside, I walked for what seemed like a mile until I got to the visa stop. I had my e-visa so it was pretty simple. I got a stamp, a signature, and went on my way. The worst part was finding an ATM. It seemed like all the ATMs didn't have cash. I went to five different ones until I was told to go to departures, as they would have the money. I did just that, and called an Uber. I figured it would be easier than trying to get a taxi. Even at 5am, there were a ton of taxis out. I was sweaty, tired, and exhausted. In Mumbai, the Uber's are all at one central parking deck. I called one and was expecting it to come to me, but the help desk explained I needed to go to it. I got there and my driver found me, and we were on our way. When we left the garage, he handed me a slip of paper. It was the parking fee of 100 rupees. I was confused as to whether or not I was supposed to pay it. The smallest bill I had was 500 so I panicked a bit. I googled what was going on, and read an article from Uber saying that the price reflected the 100 rupee parking price, and that I didn't need to pay anything. It didn't make it any less awkward, but gave me some peace of mind. When the Uber driver pulled up to the hostel sign, I was so unsure. It was literally like an alley, with mud and tents. I couldn't even see the hostel. I made up my mind that if the hostel was bad I would find another or air bnb or something. I was so unsure. I walked into the hostel and the hostel workers were sleeping on the porches. One of them woke up and helped me. I wasn't very polite and asked to see the room/cube. The way it's set up is one long room with bunk bed type things, that are each their own private little cubbies. It was actually like the photos and I decided to stay. I had to pay an extra 300 rupees for an early check, which I gladly did. I paid, did the paperwork, got wifi, used the bathroom, put my things away, and laid in my bed chatting. I actually fell asleep before I could finish this, so I'll fill in the gap as to what I did after I woke up later. Until tomorrow (a few hours)--

[travelinghermit]

Trek to the Quilotoa Volcanic Crater

After a fairly intensive full four day hike through the interior of Ecuador, across some of the most stunning Andes mountain views I have seen, I arrived back into Latacunga yesterday afternoon. Away from wifi, away from my bike, away from everything really except me, myself, and I and a few necessary items in my daypack. It felt truelly good to be cut off from modern technology for a few days and just spend some time hiking in the wilderness, breathing that fresh air. No guide, no companions except the rare few you cross paths with along the way.

I intended to depart Thursday morning but I woke up with very slight cold symptoms such as a runny nose and a very slight cough. Which is barely holding on as I write this. So I took the day preparing a bit more like walking to the bus terminal and confirming bus times, going to the bank, buying snacks. It wasnt a complete waste of a day but I did spend the majority eating fruit and resting in bed to get rid of this thing for good before I was off early in the morning.

I woke up at 5am the following morning and was on the bus to the village of Sitchos by 5:45am. The two hour bus ride was a slow ride up the winding narrow mountain passes. It was a beautiful morning in the mountains with the sun shining. I of course didnt bother with sunscreen. I packed all my rain gear and layers thinking it would be miserable, cold, mountain weather and of course over the three day duration I was lucky or perhaps unlucky with amazing weather and no rain yet my face is still recovering from it all.

By 830am I hit the trail. No map or the slightest indication of where I was supposed to go to the next village Isinlivi. The Quilotoa loop as its called is a popular trek among travellers mostly because of its inexpensive cost and well for me atleast it was the adventure aspect of being out there by yourself with no guide for a couple days roughing it. The loop is made up of a series of day treks from village to village. Most start at the village Isinlivi but there was an early bus to the town before that and I read the trail truelly started there so I went for it. There was one other group of Americans on my bus but other than that we were it for the day.

Within an hour I was already lost. I followed a sign to an abandoned house ontop of a hill and I mustve spent forty five minutes trying out each direction and all I came up with was barbed wire fences and dead ends. So did what anybody would do I saw a road bellow down the hill so I walked down, climbed over two barbed wire fences and I was back on the right track seemingly as I walked the dirt road. This first day was easily the most difficult of the days as I guess the official loop didnt start at Sitchos so the markers along the trail did not start until the following village in Isinlivi. After three and a half hours I arrived in this peaceful village at 12:30pm and was the first person to arrive at the Lulu Lhama Hostel. I was incredibly surprised at the quality of this hostel. Amazing mountain view patio at back, with a cozy living room and fire place and the star attraction a huge Saint Bernard dog lying around. I didnt bring anything to do no book or anything. I sacrificed my book in order to make space for my rain gear which I didnt use at all but lucky me there was half a book of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson with the beginning ripped out and seemingly missing. Ive read it before so it didnt really bother me. As time went on more and more people arrived at the hostel and suddenly the hostel was full. I talked to a Norwegian or was he Swedish? Well he was from one of those places who volunteered there. He told me of a nice and quick trek to the top of a hill he pointed too in the back. I still had tons of energy and nothing to do so I went for it. When I reached the top I had a 360 degree view of the beautiful mountains with low hanging clouds cutting the tops off and best of all I had it all to myself.

That night was really great. With so many people from all over staying at the hostel and no wifi as distractions it made for good interactions. It had been forever since I had some good english conversation so I was a chatterbox asking this English couple a million and one questions about their time in Peru and Bolivia. I also met two girls from France who were fun to talk too aswell. I told them about my Ayahuasca experience in Mocoa and we chatted about how with so many poor child beggars its so easy to wave them off codly, just not wanting to deal with them because of the sheer number. I told them about an experience I had the night before. I was eating soup at a restaurant and a child beggar who mustve been five at least. He came in and walked up to everyone asking for money nobody gave him anything. I didnt either except a fist bump which he deffinitley wasnt asking for. I had been used to so many coming up to me I didnt even think about it anymore. My table was facing the window and I was eyeing the boy as he walked out and past my view and I saw his face. He was on the verge of tears and I think he really did start crying completely oblivious of my view. My heart broke I wanted to run out and give him something but he was already gone. But what can you do? You cant give them all money and its shitty of the parents to put their kids in these situations. These are the tough aspects of travel that leave you powerless in view of the reality of overwhelming economic adversity. Throughout this trip its been the French that has surprised me the most with who I have connected with the most.

That night the cook made a huge Quiche and everyone ate at big tables like a big family. Nobody left the table without full stomaches. Breakfast was my absolute favorite meal fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, and scrambled eggs with juice and coffee. Perfect for a day of trekking. I was the first out the door by 821am but of course even with a map this time I was lost within minutes. After talking to many of the fellow trekkers getting lost on the Quilotoa loop is all apart of the experience. Once I found the right trail I was good for the rest of the day. This time the trek was made a bit easier with red and yellow paint marking the trail. As I was trekking along I thought how cool is this? Just a bunch of travellers trekking by ourselves with no guides through stunning Ecuadorian landscapes. If you do get lost theres always someone coming up behind you (well hopefully) but you always find your way again somehow. These trails werent incredibly easy either sometimes you wont see a paint marker for a long while but once you climb up a large hill and youre not quite sure if its really the right way, and your so tired and suddenly there it is, a red spot on a tree or rock. Youre just so happy you made it and more impottantly going the right way.

I didnt see many people along the way really. On the second night at the Cloud Forrest Hostal there were only four other groups along with me staying which I thought was weird considering how full the first night was but most dont do the full trek I gathered. Third and final day it was the big climb to the crater. Quilotoa is an inactive volcano with a rim circumference of 10km and the last time it erupted was apparently 1280 and it was such a powerful blast the ash reached the Pacific Ocean. This final day was my favorite portion of the hike. The views were spectacular, the trails were taxing and narrow and most of all very diverse. I was jumping over streams, climbing sandy paths up mountains which can barely be called a trail and through tiny mountain villages. I wrote that Jack Kerouac quote last week about fleeing the ocean and running to your desire. As I was hiking along I was laughing to myself as this was exactly what I desired. A challenging hike I can do all by myself over a couple days which ended in a jaw dropping view of the Quilotoa Volcan crater lake. This was exactly what I required.

At around noon I had arrived to the top. It was a gruelling climb that had me going slowly step by step but the view from the top was incredible. Never had I been to a rim of a Volcano, never have I trekked alone for days, never was I about to trek the entire circumference of a Volcano rim, it was surely a day of firsts. The lake that accumulated in the crater of the Volcano was an otherwordly tourqoize green that light up like a emerald when the sun shone on its surface. Absolutley incredible. The colour of the lake comes from the minerals that accumulate. I never seam in the lake but im sure its very good for you. As soon as I reached the top there was time for a slight peanut break but then I was off again treking up and down the hills surrounding the crater. I was all alone up there and this wasnt easy after trekking three hours already just to get there. Seven hours of trekking total on Sunday and by the time I finished the crater loop and found a hostel I was dead beat. The following morning I hopped a bus back to Latagunga and here I am now in a cafe writing this.

I leave for Banos tomorrow after two well deserved rest days. My trekking hopefully doesnt end here. I think I needed a reset from everything, clear my head and reassess my goals. I talked to a girl from Begium who is travelling a year on a $25 a day budget. Made me feel like a novice. I tracked my spending for a week and I saw with no surprise I spend most of my money on snacks. My goal for this week is a $30 budget just to see if I can do it. That starts today we’ll see how it goes. I do love my snacks and yet again the mantra rings “strip away the unessential”.

Pictures might be a diificulty to upload.

[canaryatlaw]

Well, today was kind of blah, mostly because I'm still in the same shitty mood from yesterday. And now that I'm back here even though I have a handle on most of my things I still feel ridiculously stressed out and can't stop my mind from racing and I could really use some fucking Xanax right now (I only say that because I'm awaiting my prescription for it from the company, I don't normally throw around comments like that). Ugh. But anyway. My alarm went off at 9:45 and I got up, got my things together and got ready, then ate some breakfast and my dad took me to the airport. I made it through all my goodbyes okay, despite having the feeling in my chest that tears were lurking right below the surface, waiting to be set off at the smallest trigger, but it somehow subsided and I was okay. The airport is small, so I made it through security and to the gate in no time. The first flight was fine, nothing spectacular. I mostly worked on my appellate brief, fixing citations and breaking up sentences (because I have a habit of making 4 line sentences, grammatically proper but I know my prof won't appreciate it) and just generally trying to get my word count up. We landed in Baltimore pretty soon and my next flight was in an hour, with the gate pretty close by to where I was. So I grabbed some sushi that looked appetizing from one of the places then sat at the gate and took advantage of the free wifi I finally managed to hack into without actually paying (it's not actual hacking, it's just knowing how to navigate the system). And with that wifi I looked up and downloaded the rest of the cases mentioned in the trial court fake opinion so I could use them for the second section of my paper. Flight boarded soon, and when we were in the air I started reading cases and working on them, and made a solid amount of progress. Landed after not too long, took for-fucking-ever for our bags to come, and then my uber app flipped out on me and kept saying my request wouldn't go through so I'm like fine whatever I'll use Lyft, so I do and the driver gets there a lot quicker than they usually do since the airport makes them wait in a special lot until they get a pick up. So I get in the car and we started chatting, apparently they had been leaving the airport after another pick up planning on going home but had their app on to see if they'd get anything going north towards where they lives and they got me haha so they turned around and so we went. And then I get a notification saying my uber driver was arriving now and I'm like ????? I bring up the app and it doesn't even have a trip going, so I'm like wtf....and then a few minutes later the poor guy calls wanting to know where I am and I'm just like....I didn't order an uber?? Haha it was strange. But my driver and I established pretty early on that we're both tumblr people, so that kind of set the level of understanding of each other for the rest of the conversation haha. So we talked about a lot of things, they talked about figuring out that they were non-binary and picking a new name, and of course we eventually got into religion and it's social effects and I was happy to hear that they were still actually a Christian even after having grown up in a crappy conservative Christian environment and dealing with all that shit. So they were telling me how much they love their church and I in turn told them how much I love my church, and yeah, it was nice. Got home soon enough, and as expected my white canary boots had arrived, so I had to try on my whole costume to make sure they work of course, haha (I'll post a photo when I'm down here). They fit, thankfully, and they match the costume pretty well- they're a little darker than the actual suit, but the jacket is a darker gray so with them together they just look awesome, so I'm very happy about that. So I settled in and started catching up on my tv shows, which I'll try to comment on if I can remember what I watched, lol. But I kept working on my appellate brief until I had about 4700 words (out of the maximum 5000). I had one more case I was gonna cover but the opinion was so confusing and its relevance to our case really tenuous, so I said ah screw it and called it there. Hopefully I can make up the last 300 or so words in final edits and adding transitory and other necessary things. I'm not worried though, which is good. I've said this a million times before, and I fucking hate it so much, but every single time I have to write something I get scared I won't be able to write as much as needed, even though I pretty much always exceed the word count and being too short is almost never an issue, and while knowing this, I still think it, and 5000 words was looming over me this whole week as some unattainable goal, so now that I'm a lot closer to it I'm feeling better about it. So yeah, tv. I initially picked out my recording of powerless, only to find out the dvr had actually recorded the premiere of trial and error. Okay, well I wanted to watch this anyway, so I might as well keep watching, and holy Jesus this show is amazing haha I already love it so much, although I know the legal inaccuracies are gonna kill me even when I'm telling myself it's a comedy ffs (but in the episode they were pulling shit like "oh homosexuality as a crime was never repealed here" and I'm like uh bullshit Lawrence v. Texas much???? Lol). But I enjoyed that a lot. I think I went to Designated Survivor next, which was a thoroughly epic episode, fairly major spoilers ahead (you've been warned) but ahhh I can't believe just like that MacLeish is dead??? The Vice President is dead?? And how that's just gonna look so much worse for president Kirkman and not just that MacLeish was a dirty traitor....ugh. I was glad to at least see my girl Hannah FINALLY getting vindicated cuz I was like ahh yes you go girl cuz I've hardcore been pulling for her this whole time, lol, so that was cool. But yeah, really intense and awesome episode, I liked it a lot. Riverdale next I think, and holy shit that episode was so sad???? Like dang man, Jughead's life is really fucking depressing. I was of course calling major bs when the sheriff supposedly took him in on literally no evidence and then had his school record because that's not fucking illegal or anything?????? Ugh. I'm glad he's at least living with Archie now though. Veronica continues to be awesome, and with the whole Betty and Polly situation I was thinking the whole time yo do not trust the Blossoms they evil AF so of course I was right there. Good episode though. Then I started last week's episode of Time After Time, which I managed to start in time to finish right before this week's episode started without actually meaning to at all haha so I watched the two episodes back to back. Continues to be an intriguing show, I think it's still finding its footing a bit, but the twists have been very interesting so far. I'm not sure how sustainable it is in the long run, like I'm not sure I can see it going more than one season really, which is unfortunate because it's clever, the plot just doesn't really allow for it. They also love killing people off haha I guess that's what happens when you have a show featuring Jack the Ripper. HG Wells continues to be an gem ("he came over right after world war 2" ".....there was more than 1???????") and the rest of cast does well too. So when that was over I knew I had just missed the live episode of Chicago justice, but I didn't really have much else to watch at this point so I watched the second episode. It wasn't bad, annoyed me less than the first, though that's likely just because they spent less time in the courtroom, lol. They're not quite mastering the time jump thing yet, where they go from crime to investigation to trial in one episode, without any real inference to time passing, which makes it feel like it all happened over like 3 days, which isn't just unrealistic, it's confusing, because they're like "oh who are we gonna bring to the grand jury?" and then the next scene is "the grand jury returned an indictment!" and you're just like da fuck?? Lol. The episode itself was interesting though, I wish they tied in their twist a little sooner, it seemed like too much of an afterthought with the entire plot they had come up with, but it was a well-thought out and well-played twist for sure. It kind of annoyed me that through the entire episode everyone was like "oh you know any cop who gets put on trial is gonna be found guilty" when that's pretty much categorically false, as cops are almost never convicted for officer involved behavior?? Lol, like I get that they're connected to Chicago PD or whatever but they gotta get that down a bit better. And yeah, when that was over I let the news play for a bit while I finished up the queue for the week on the company tumblr. Throughout the night I also wrote my "speech" (it's like a paragraph and a half) for the PAD election speeches tomorrow- so needless to say I decided that I would run. I had kind of come to that decision last night and was gonna text the justice (president) but I was already falling asleep, then I woke up and started doubting it again, but then came back to that conclusion and went for it. I'm not running for justice though because I know that would be too much, so I'm running for service chair (my current position) and vice justice. I don't know the current state of people running, but I have to imagine it's not gonna be all that many. I guess we'll see tomorrow though. And yeah, that's about it. Tired and about ready to fall asleep, back to real life tomorrow. So goodnight friends of mine. Hope you had a relaxing weekend.